Ghosts of the Past
by StoryCrusader
Summary: Astrid is taken during a raid on her village and suffers horrors until a ghost from her past rescues her. She soon learns surprising details about this man who she thought was dead and learns that there are many secrets that he doesn't tell her. He makes her an offer to return with him to his home, but she doesn't know if she wants to be so far from her own... A story of the past
1. Chapter 1: The Dragon Rider

**Hello, everybody! So, this is my first HTTYD fanfic. It is of course going to be an AU. It is going to remain an 'M' rating just in case because of what some may call sensitive content. Now, let me tell you what's gonna go down! So this story is not necessarily going to be accurate to the world of HTTYD that has been created through the TV shows and HTTYD 2. This will be based off of the first movie, but I will take elements from the TV shows and HTTYD 2 and use them in the story as well just not in a completely accurate way. I don't know. Confused? So am I. So, before I confuse you lot or myself more, read on...**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Dragon Rider**

* * *

 _*Fire. Raid. Fighting. Cries of warning. Pain in the back of head. Blacked out. Woke up. Ship. Island. Struggle. Surrounded by men. Struggle. Afraid. Broken. Helpless. Overpowered. Naked. Vulnerable. Touches. Hands. Screams.*_

Astrid woke with a start. Her eyes looked about frantically as she panted for air. She had dreamt another nightmare, but the horror wasn't over.

She shuddered in the damp space of the cage she was in, pulling her knees closer to her chest. She wore only a thin nightgown. It was the only thing they had provided her.

She whimpered as she shrunk further into the corner. This was a living Hel. She wanted to get out. She wanted it to stop. Her loose blonde hair was tangled and matted across her shoulders and back. Her body was already becoming frail after three days of this abuse by her captors.

Three days. That is how long since she had been defending her village of Berk. She had been engaged in a dual with one of the attacking Outcasts when someone yelled at her to "Watch out!" Then her head had lit up with pain. She had blacked out. When she woke up, she had found herself to be gagged and bound onboard an Outcast vessel headed towards her captors' base of operations. It hadn't taken her long to figure out what happened. She had been captured during the raid.

Astrid had fought and struggled when they brought her into the fortress. She had been determined to not go down without a fight, but fight as she did, she couldn't stop them.

Astrid trembled in the dark cage. She heard the moans and whispers of the other prisoners in the other cells. She buried her face in her arms and gave a sob.

How did she get here? How did she become a prisoner? How did she become encaged like an animal? Why was this happening to her?

She had suffered through more horrors in the past three days than the whole twenty-one years of her life. She never felt so helpless since that day six and half years ago when she lost someone she hadn't realized she cared for. She heard him die. She glimpsed the creature that committed the deed. It left no body. Just bloody pieces of a shirt and a dagger. She should have saved him. She could have saved him, but she had left him alone for that short amount of time. She should have never left him alone. Guilt and pain had been her life for those next few months. It took a while but she finally got over it. This time however, she felt helpless because she was the victim.

Astrid shivered as she thought of what happened the past few days. It had scarred her emotionally and mentally. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be with her parents. She wanted to feel safe in her bed.

The past few days had terrified her. She had fought at first, but she was just one woman against numerous men. She had been beaten. She had been groped and violated.

It was a miracle that she still kept her virginity, but she shuddered at the future possibility of that being taken away also by force. And the worst part is… she would be helpless to stop it. That is what scared her the most. For the first time in her life, she felt vulnerable in ways that shook her down to her core. She could do nothing.

There was a clinking on the bars to her cage, and Astrid gulped as she flinched into her corner, terrified blue eyes staring at the Viking that was opening her cell door.

The man held the door open and looked at her.

"Good evening, princess. Time to go."

Astrid gulped and shook her head, trying to give her best glare at the man but failing. She tried to be brave, but that was something that was quickly leaving her. With each passing day, she was losing more and more of the tough Viking woman she was before.

The gruff looking Viking growled at her, marching into the cage and grabbing the young woman roughly by the arm, resulting in a small cry of pain from her.

" _You_ are coming, whether you _like_ it or not."

He threw her out the cage and kicked her, sending her sprawling onto the dirty floor. There were other people in the cages as well. Prisoners of war. Other women. They all watched her with compassionate gazes. Some called out words of compassion to her. Some called out insults at the Outcast that was taking her away from her cell.

Astrid wobbled onto her feet and squeezed her arms together across her chest as she slowly walked down the hallway. She instinctively looked for escape routes, but she knew that there weren't any. Any entrances and exits were guarded. Without a weapon, she would only be captured again and beaten… again. She didn't want that to happen. She didn't want to be surrounded by a group of men again, naked and afraid. The thought nearly made her legs give out, but she reluctantly continued, hearing the footsteps of her captor behind her.

She stuttered out a question, trying to sound brave and composed. She already knew the answer. She asked out of a foolish hope of getting a more pleasant answer.

"W-Where are w-we going?"

The brown-bearded man gave her a shove.

"Shut up and keep walking! You know where we are going. I'm gonna enjoy it. You… probably not."

Astrid shuddered and complied. She was broken. Three days of the abuse given her would do that to anyone.

Her bare feet felt frozen as she walked upon the cold stone and out the door of the barn-like building. It was a dark night. The stone structure ahead of her was intimidating. She didn't know if that was because of its appearance or what was waiting for her inside.

Astrid began to panic. In desperation, she made a dash for the docks at the bottom of the hill, but big burly hands caught her. She half screamed and half whimpered at the action.

"Let me go! Please! What else can you possibly do to me?!"

She felt the warm breath of the man on her neck as he chuckled devilishly.

"Many things. Now…"

She felt his hands on her chest.

The Viking gave her a threatening whisper.

"Now, are you goin to be a good girl and do as she says? Or do I need to teach you some manners?"

Astrid gulped and stopped struggling, shivering with fear.

The Viking released his grip on her and shoved her forward, making her stumble.

"Good. Now, move!"

Her heart beat faster and louder the closer she stumbled towards the door. She was walking into a room to be practically tortured, to be surrounded by a group of men, to be touched and fondled, to be abused, again, for the second time. She didn't want to go through it again. Who would? She prayed to the gods for a miracle.

She was pushed through the door and into a room full of men. The brown-bearded Viking grinned at his fellow Outcasts.

"Ello boys, I brought the entertainment!"

There was a chorus of evil snickers about the room.

"Where's Alvin?"

"He's off on official business. Now, are we going to make her sing or not?!"

"How about I take her out back and knock her up, eh? It's been too long."

"Ha! You? I'll do it!"

Astrid closed her eyes and tried to block out the words being spoken around her. She tried not to think of what was coming. She prayed for a miracle. She prayed for an escape.

Her heart beat accelerated.

Suddenly she felt hands grabbing her arm and flinging her onto a table. She screamed and lashed out at her abuser, kicking him in the face, but was quickly subdued.

She panicked as the group of men surrounded her and held her down. She whimpered as she felt the nightgown being pulled up.

No! No! NO!

She writhed against their restraining hands.

"LET ME G—" She gasped and squirmed as one of them stuck their hand between her legs. She wanted to kick, she wanted to kill the man who was doing this to her, but she couldn't. She was restrained. She bit back her tears as she writhed with discomfort and shame, trying to break free of their grasps but to no avail.

They had pulled her gown up past her chest. She heard evil snickers and doubled her struggles once she felt their violating touches.

She couldn't take it anymore. She needed to get out of this! She needed a miracle!

It seems the gods heard her prayer…

Suddenly there was an awful shrieking sound that seemed to pierce throughout the building. All the men fell silent. Even Astrid froze in fear.

Everyone knew what that sound meant…

"NIGHT FURY!"

Suddenly the wall of the building was ripped open by an explosion. The force knocked Astrid off the table as the inside of the building became a hot furnace as fire ignited in the room and the roof began to crumble.

She hit the ground hard and cried with pain. All the Outcasts rushed out of the collapsing and burning building with no regard for the woman's life.

Astrid forced herself to her feet, pulling the nightgown back down, and launched herself for the door. She felt the searing heat against her back and bare legs. She heard the roof give a little more and knew that it was going to be close.

She dove out of the blazing building and into the chaos of the night, moments before the roof gave and came crashing in where she once stood.

Astrid got to her feet, heart thumping hard into her chest and adrenaline filling her veins.

She looked in horror at the red and orange flames pouring out of multiple buildings on the island. Some of the Outcasts were climbing an untouched defense tower.

She flinched at the sound of the Night Fury screech above her and was stumbling backwards in shock as the tower before her exploded with a flash of purple, sending the men climbing it hurtling back and to the ground below. For a brief second, she glimpsed a shadowy shape speed past and race up amongst the smoky night sky, the terrifying sound of the infamous dragon piercing her ears before another fireball erupted from the other side of the island.

There were ships at the docks that were untouched and abandoned. The dragon had not yet destroyed them.

Astrid's fear was replaced by hope as she realized that now was a chance to escape while her captors were distracted by trying to douse the flames and combat the unholy spawn of evil.

She dashed for the docks but was knocked to the ground by an explosion that demolished a building next to her. Once again, she saw only a shadow race past in the sky above her. She felt the heat against her back and rolled around to face the blazing structure. There were cries of agony coming from inside.

It was only a moment before she felt hands pulling her to her feet. An angry Viking was glaring down at her wielding a sword.

"Where do you think you're going, bitch?! I swear I will—Uff!"

Astrid had slammed her elbow into his stomach, making him release his grip. Pure desperation and determination to get away fueled her. She needed to get to the docks. She would be able to steal a ship and make her escape. If she didn't, she would die trying. There was no way she was going to allow them to do those horrible things to her anymore.

She started to run in that direction but screamed as she felt someone grab her by her hair and yank her to the ground. The Viking was not letting her escape that easily.

There was another screech and the docks erupted into a blazing fireball. Astrid's eyes widened.

 _NO!_

That was her only shot at escaping. She was helpless. She wasn't going to escape. NO! There was another way. There had to be—

She was yanked to her feet by the Outcast and was starting to be dragged back towards the lodge.

She cried in desperation and anger and gave the burly man a kick to the kneecap, causing him to release her hair. She inwardly smirked. It seems she hadn't lost herself completely just yet, but she knew her position was still drastically outmatched without a weapon.

The man roared as he rounded on her and sliced his sword at her in an upward motion. She jumped back to dodge the slice and was quick enough to escape with her life but not enough to escape unscathed.

Astrid hissed with pain as the sword left a long gash going from her lower left side of her stomach up to the right side of her chest. She grasped her stomach as she felt the warm blood seeping from her wound, soaking the now ripped white nightgown. The Viking kicked her in the abdomen, knocking the air from her lungs as she fell back and tumbled down the slope towards the burning docks.

When she finally came to a stop, she still clutched her stomach with an agonized groan. Somewhere in her tumble, her head had connected with a rock, making her vision spin and blur.

She tried to get up but found someone kicking her down. She cried out in pain as she looked up to another murderous Outcast looking for someone to take out his anger on, her vision dizzy and blurred to unrecognizable. She croaked out a plea.

"Please… Don't…"

The man didn't listen as they raised their axe to finish her off.

But before they could bring the blade swinging down there was a sudden roar descending from the sky.

Astrid weakly tried to crawl away from the man as he screamed with fright as he was sent hurtling into the flaming harbor by something. Her vision was blurred and blackening, but she saw Outcast Isle ablaze with flames. Every building had massive columns of fire leaping from it. Bells were tolling and people were crying in agony and yelling with terror. The other prisoners seemed to have escaped and were creeping away from the buildings. Some had stopped and were staring at her with horror. She saw something black bounding over to her. She heard someone cry her name, but she was already slipping into the black...

* * *

Astrid gave a silent moan as she fluttered her eyes open. Her eyes widened as she took in her surroundings. It was silent. No sounds of fighting. No screech of the Night Fury. Silence. The only thing she heard was the sound of what seemed to be tree leaves rustling in a breeze.

Where was she? How did she get here?

She was lying on a bed of furs. Several layers of furs and blankets lay on top of her. Her body felt hot. She was in some sort of leathery tent. She could make out daylight outside.

She gave a confused moan as she tried to sit up from the furs but winced at the pain in her abdomen. She hissed at the stinging sensation.

Astrid froze at the sound of a deep exhale and blinked in shock as tent was removed from over her, leaving the last rays of the day illumine the area around her. That was when she realized… It was no tent.

Her eyes widened with horror at a scaly black snout and round green eyes that suddenly appeared beside her.

 _Dragon!_

She let out a scream as she roughly pushed herself away from the dragon's head only for her back to collide with a warm scaly body as the furs fell from her chest.

Astrid suddenly felt the cool air upon her chest and realized something.

She was naked!

She trembled as she instinctively snatched a blanket to cover her bare chest while yelling at the dragon.

"Get away from me!"

The dragon gave a shocked look, and its eyes bounced from side to side, unsure what to do. It seemed to decide on something and lifted its head up to give a sharp bark into the woods before turning its attention back on her, head coming closer. Its snout came so close that she felt the warm air from its nostrils.

Astrid cringed in fear as the reptile's eyes inspected her with curiosity.

"D-Don't eat me."

To her surprise the dragon pulled back and cocked its head to the side before giving what could only be laughter of some sort.

Astrid was frozen in shock.

 _Did it… It did…_

"D-Did you… Did you just laugh?"

She didn't know why she asked. The dragon wouldn't understand her, but… She gasped with surprise as the reptile rolled its eyes with a snort and nodded, giving her a look that said 'Of course, stupid human. I can laugh.'

 _Okay… This is just bizarre. I am actually talking to a dragon… and it understands me…?_

She drew up the blanket further up her body, now more self-conscious since she realized that she may be in the presence of an intelligent beast that was capable of understanding things.

This shouldn't be possible. She should be dead right now by the claws and teeth of the very monster that she was now having some sort of conversation with.

Astrid blinked her blue eyes. She looked at the dragon with a mixture of terror and confusion. It seemed to be waiting for her to speak, but she couldn't. She just couldn't. This was too bizarre and… backwards. It was supposed to be a mindless killer, wasn't it? Dragons always go for the kill! So why wasn't she dead yet?

She gulped as she glanced about her surroundings. They were in a clearing in a dense wood somewhere. Somewhere in the relatively near distance was the sound of waves lapping against a rocky beach. The sun seemed to be setting in the west. She was propped up on the dragon, laying in a pile of furs and blankets next to what seemed to be the smoldering remains of a campfire. She noticed a few small crates stacked next to a log to her right. They seemed to contain medical supplies.

Astrid had a thought and carefully pulled back the blanket slightly to look down at her body. She noticed that there was a bandage stretching down her bare front, and she remembered.

She was being attacked. The Outcast had sliced her across the front of her body. Another man was about to kill her when something black attacked him before he got the chance. Something black…

Astrid gasped and looked back at the dragon. It was as black as night. The only parts of it that weren't black were its green eyes, and pink insides of its mouth… Wait… Since when did a dragon not have teeth?

"Y-You saved me?" Her voice was riddled with uncertainty and confusion.

The dragon gave a wobble of its head and an eye gesture that seemed to indicate that he did but he had some sort of help. Astrid looked back at the campfire and other manmade artifacts. The bandage on her chest. How did a dragon do all that?

She heard a rustling in the brush at the edge of the clearing and heard a voice. It seemed strangely familiar.

"What is it, bud? You hungry for dinner? I just caught a few fish by th—"

Astrid whipped her head about to look at the young man that had entered the clearing and was now staring at her in silent surprise.

Her eyes widened as she looked at him. He was a relatively short and lanky man. His shoulders were broad and traces of muscle were built up on them and his arms. He wore a simple green tunic and brown leggings. He had dark brown hair that was close to being black. His eyes were a forest green.

His face lit up with a smile as he sighed with relief.

"Astrid! Thank Thor, you're awake. Finally. I thought you weren't going to wake up for a while there."

Astrid shrunk away from him as he neared, eyeing him fearfully and suspiciously.

"Don't come near me! W-What do you want? Just st— H-How do you know my name?"

She was confused. How in the name of Helheim did this stranger know her name? What was he doing to her? What will he do to her?

The young man slowed to a halt, giving her some space, and raised his hands to indicate he wasn't a threat. His voice had a gentle comforting tone.

"Easy. I'm not going to hurt you. Toothless here won't either. Isn't that right, bud?"

The dragon gave his master a warble before peering back at Astrid with curious green eyes.

The man's forest green eyes were filled with kindness as he slowly crouched down in front of her, giving her a small smile.

"See? Not going to try anything, Astrid."

Astrid felt her heart race, and her eyes flickered between the dragon and the young man, but she eventually relaxed a bit in his presence, although she pulled the blanket further up her body… and the dragon still freaked her out by how close it was.

She repeated her question, blue eyes cautiously watching the dragon.

"H-How do you know my name? Who are you?"

The man gave a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck while using his other hand to pat the snout of his dragon companion, gaining her attention.

"Uh, yeah, about that. Sorry. Um…" He looked at her with uncertainty. "You're telling me you don't recognize me… at all?"

She shook her head and gave him a confused glare.

"No, I don't… Why? Have we met?"

The man gave a sigh, his expression showing defeat as if hoping she would and make this easier to explain.

"Well, can't say I'm surprised. It's been six years, and I have changed a lot since then. Um, sooo…" He ran a hand through his dark brown unkempt hair, eyes narrowing as he bit his lip in concentration. "Oh Odin help me… Okay, how do I explain this in the _least_ shocking way possible?" He seemed to come to a conclusion and grinned at her nervously. "Okay, so six years ago, err, what happened?"

Astrid blinked. Okay, she was missing something. Why would he ask that?

"I-I don't understand."

The man groaned and hung his head in frustration it seemed. He grumbled towards the sky before looking at her with a sigh. Looks like he would have to be more straight forward.

"Astrid, something happened. Something, uh… tragic, although not tragic." He paused in contemplative thought. "Well, not tragic to me but maybe for the village, I suppose. I don't know… Doubt it." He sighed again and looked at her with expecting eyes. "A certain village screw up. Dragon Training…"

As the man spoke, Astrid focused in on his face, specifically his eyes, heart beating faster as they unlocked memories. Where had she seen those eyes before? Why did it seem impossible that she was seeing them again? What happened six years ago? The only thing that came to mind was…

Death. Dragon Training Champion. Green eyes. Brown hair. Small. Scrawny… Oh Thor almighty and Freya help her…

But…

If this was… He wasn't small… scrawny... but it had been six and a half years. A lot could happen… a lot could change…

Oh gods…

It couldn't be…

But it was…

Right?

Impossible! He died!

Astrid's eyes widened, her jaw dropping. Her mind spun with impossibilities as she breathed out a name.

"H-Hiccup?"

The man gave a sheepish grin before he nodded. He gave a very Hiccup wave if his hand, awkward and hesitant.

"Hey, err… not dead. Obviously."

Astrid's breathing quickened and heart beat raced. Her mind raced as the realization settled in, eyes locked on him as wide as they could be.

Hiccup started to look at her with concern.

"A-Astrid? Are you oka—HEY!"

The young woman suddenly punched him in the shoulder with all of her pent-up tension, glaring and yelling at him. She punched his arm again and again, though without any serious force behind them… nothing _too_ too hard that is.

"YOU! MEAN! TO! TELL! ME! YOU! HAVE! BEEN! ALIVE! ALL! THIS! TIME?! Do you have any idea how guilty and heartbroken I felt after you 'died'?! I've NEVER been more miserable, YOU… You… you… j-j-jerk…"

She broke down into a sob, clutching the blanket to her bare chest. Hiccup sat back up, rubbing his arm with wide eyes.

" _Heartbroken?_ " He whispered more to himself than her.

Astrid didn't know why, but she felt her cheeks and ears flush pink at the wonder in his voice. She avoided eye contact, breathing heavily. She tried to back away again but let loose a silent cry of pain as she fell back down onto the furs, clutching her stomach and chest.

Hiccup came closer, concern evident in his voice and eyes.

"Astrid, easy. You got a gash stretching from your shoulder and down your stomach. I stitched you up, but you need to relax before you break it open again."

Astrid flinched away from him, and for a brief moment, he saw terror and dread in her eyes. He froze where he was and sat down to appear less threatening. His eyes narrowed at her in concern and compassion, those clever eyes piecing together reasons why she would be acting like this. His voice was soft, barely above a whisper.

"What happened to you? Why are you like this?" His widened a bit with a thought, eyes flashing with deep compassion and understanding. "They did something. The Outcasts. Something horrible. Didn't they?"

The young woman rolled away from him to face the dragon's body.

"No," she choked. She didn't want to tell him the truth. For all she knew, he could be exactly like those savages. Lustful and bound to hurt her or touch her or rape her or…

"Astrid…"

She closed her eyes with a shudder as he whispered her name in such a gentle way.

"I know that is a lie…" He continued with that warm and gentle voice of his.

It seemed to make its way down to her very heart, warming her, comforting her. Why did he have _this_ effect over her? Why was he so special? He was Hiccup, that's why. He couldn't hurt a fly. Although, that could have changed in these past six years since he did not die all those years ago. Regardless…

She let out a shuddered sigh, shaking her head both from disbelief that he was still alive and to emphasis that she did _not_ want to discuss the horrors she faced the past couple days.

"I-I just don't want to talk about it, okay? I-I just found out you're alive, which I _still_ cannot believe!" She let out a heavy sigh, head hung low. "It's all too much to take in…"

Astrid suddenly had a thought, and her eyes flashed down at her covered body. She pulled the blanket tighter around her.

"H-Hiccup? Um… Why am I naked?"

She heard an awkward laugh behind her and turned over to look at the grown-up Hiccup.

He was rubbing his hands together nervously and was blushing a deep red.

"Well, um, I needed to cut the bedgown off you so I could, uh… tend to your wound. Soooo…"

He gestured to her covered body with an almost apologetic grin as he continued

"… you're naked. Sorry, but it was either doing it or letting you bleed to death. I thought you would prefer the option that involved- you know- living, so I cut off the bedgown since it got in the way. Err, to be honest it wasn't doing you much good anyways with the rip across the front, haha errr- Don't worry though, I-I kept you covered as best as I could. I didn't… I wasn't… you know… peeking. Promise." He blushed a bit with a reassuring grin. "I've been working on making some new clothes for you using some of my own and other things, but they aren't ready yet. So, uh yeah, do us both a favor and keep that blanket over you."

He looked away, taking interest in anything that would not involve him looking at her.

Astrid felt a hot blush on her own face. She was embarrassed by the fact that he _may_ have _seen_ her _naked_. Him, _Hiccup_ , seeing _her_ naked. It was… beyond awkward, but she could tell by his equal amount of embarrassment that he was telling the truth when he said he tried to keep her covered as much as possible. All in all, she was willing to forget all about it, both because he was honest… and because she rather not think of Hiccup seeing her naked.

"I-It's okay. Can…Can we just _not_ talk about it? It is a little… you know—"

Hiccup tapped his hands on his knees nervously as he cut her off, still looking the other way. He seemed to be just as eager to change the subject as she was.

"Yeah, yeah. It, uh, didn't happen. Gotch ya. Let's not bring it up again."

He was silent for a moment before looking back at her.

"So, um, you've changed since the last time I saw you."

Astrid forced a grin at him, eyes involuntarily staring at his body.

"Um, thanks. You have too."

 _Oh, he definitely has changed. Who ever thought Hiccup would look so hot? Wait… Oh, no no no no! Don't start thinking that! You aren't… He isn't… No, he is… He really is… He is so muscular now, not like your typical Viking but in his own way. I wonder what he will look like with his shirt off—OKAY STOP IT!_

"Astrid? You okay?"

She had been staring at him with a mixture of awe and horror, reflecting the war of emotions and thoughts inside her head, but now stared at him with just horror because he had noticed. She quickly stuttered out a response.

"Oh, uh, nothing. I'm fine. Err…"

 _Okay, I need to change the topic. This is just too awkward with me being naked under these furs and blankets… Dragon…_

Astrid looked at the scaly reptile who had been watching their exchange with a hint of amusement in its eyes. She still couldn't believe how intelligent and human-like it acted, but it still freaked her out a little that she was this close to a creature so capable of killing her, especially after all the dragon raids she had experienced.

She gulped.

"Uh, Hiccup? Do you mind telling me why you have a pet dragon?"

The dragon in question gave her a glare at the 'p' word.

Hiccup laughed and shoved the dragon's head away from him with unbelievable carelessness. Did he want to anger the beast?!

"Okay, first of all, his name is Toothless. And secondly, he _isn't_ my pet, couldn't stress that enough. He is my best friend. Aren't you, bud?"

The dragon… Toothless, apparently… nuzzled his head into Hiccup's touch, eyes closing with a purr.

Astrid sat up, hand securing the blanket to her chest and hair tumbling down her back, as she watched with disbelief. She had to admit that she half-expected the dragon to attack Hiccup and her at a moment's notice, but then she noticed how friendly it seemed to be and Hiccup's calmness around it. They really were… friends… weren't they?

She shook her head free of the thought and gazed at the dra—Toothless… gazed at Toothless with curiosity.

"So, how… what exactly is he? I've never seen his type before."

Hiccup and Toothless eyes both widened and looked at each other before both started to seemingly snicker about something she didn't know.

She frowned, giving him… _them_ … a glare.

"What's so funny? It was an honest question."

Hiccup could hardly keep a straight face.

"Oh, you're going to _love_ this…"

He rested his head on top of Toothless' and stroked his cheek.

"Toothless here is a Night Fury."

The effect was instantaneous. Astrid's eyes widened and jaw dropped. She even almost dropped the blanket from her chest as she sucked in air. She breathed out in amazement, suddenly much more intimidated by the reptile.

"Hiccup… Are you serious?... How… Wha… Are you insane? This is the most lethal and feared dragon in the whole world and you are… _friends_ with it?!"

Hiccup's smile widened even further.

"Don't sound so surprised yet. You haven't even heard the best part. I ride him."

Astrid blinked. Did she hear that correctly? He _rides_ a dragon? No, not just 'a dragon'? A _Night Fury_?

"R-R-Ride him? You mean to tell me that you were on his back when he was attacking Outcast Isle? _On_ him? T-That was _you_ , right?"

Hiccup nodded, and Toothless struck a proud pose with a smugness on his snout.

"Toothless can't fly without me."

Astrid raised her hand to stop him from going any further, still trying to understand all this. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Hiccup is still alive, but this just added more to the already long list to ponder.

"Wait. Wait. What do you mean by 'can't fly'? He has wings."

Hiccup got up and walked past her and towards the dragon's tail. He picked up the end of it and showed her.

Astrid raised her eyebrows. The dragon was missing half his tailfin. It seemed to have been ripped off with a great force.

"How did that happen?"

Hiccup gave her a guilty look.

" _I_ happened that's what." He dropped the tail and grinned. "Do you remember the time when I was claiming I shot down a Night Fury but no one believed me?"

Astrid gave a confused nod

"Yeah, but…" Her eyes widened and leaned forward with the realization. "You don't mean…"

He gave her a nod.

"Yep, the one and the same dragon. You ever wonder how I got so good at Dragon Training. He's the reason. I went out after I shot him down to finish him off so that I could come back to the village all victorious and impress my dad. I thought that maybe then everyone would take me seriously, but when I found him…"

Hiccup wandered over to the dragon's head and laid a hand on it affectionately.

"I looked into his eyes, and I realized something. I saw myself in his eyes, afraid and misunderstood. No one gave me the chance to be who I wanted to be. You all said that it was either your way or be stuck being the village screw-up forever. Sort of the same thing with Toothless and all dragons, misunderstood and forced into an identity that is not like them at all."

He sighed heavily before continuing, looking at her with passionate green eyes.

"Dragons aren't what you think they are. They are gentle and harmless for the most part. They are capable of doing great harm, yes, but they only attack unless threatened or have another good reason. They aren't perfect, but they are not inherently evil as Vikings think. In many ways, they are just like us."

Astrid frowned, skeptical.

"Hiccup, you are forgetting that they attack us. The raids. The death. The destruction. If they are all harmless and gentle as you say, why did they attack?"

She noticed Hiccup give a heavy sigh and sit down, keeping his distance from her since he could tell that she was still on edge from her experience.

He looked up at her with a knowing grin.

"They stopped attacking about 4 years ago, didn't they?"

Astrid was surprised and confused by the statement. The dragons had in fact stopped raiding all of a sudden and without any warning. They just stopped. No one knew why. The attacks had lasted for 300 hundred years, and then they just stopped mysteriously. Why would Hiccup bring that mystery up?

"Well, yeah, it was strange, but I don't see why that mat—"

"I was the reason they stopped." He interrupted, and Astrid's eyebrows shot up.

Hiccup for yet another time had surprised her.

"What do you mean you're the reason? How could… How?"

Hiccup grinned at her eager question.

"I did what my dad never could. I found the nest, and I discovered the reason why they had been attacking."

Astrid was curious now. Forget the fact that she didn't have clothes on and was currently covering her feminine body with a blanket in a dead Viking's presence. She was curious, and nothing was going to get in the way of her knowing.

"Why?"

"They attacked because they _had_ to. In the nest, there was a queen. She was massive. Turns out that all the food that the dragons had been taking from the villages were not being eaten by them but by the queen. If they didn't provide her with food, they would be eaten themselves. They were pretty much slaves."

Astrid sat back with a surprised but thoughtful look. It made sense. She could hardly believe it, but it made sense. Survival is what it came down to. But, that doesn't answer her question.

"That kind of makes sense, but _how_ did you make them stop?"

Hiccup gave a sad smile. She remembered that smile a couple times after he had been forced to do something he didn't want to do back in the days when he was still Hiccup the Screw-Up.

She looked at him with a quizzical expression.

"Hiccup, what did you do?"

He gave her a sigh and a humorless chuckle, avoiding eye contact while petting Toothless' head.

"You know? It's ironic. I leave Berk because I didn't want to kill a dragon only to come back two years later and do just that. It was the only way. I had to make the queen choke on her own fire, essentially making her explode from the inside out once she hit the ground. Me and Toothless barely made it out alive."

Astrid bit her lip. That sounded terrible, but it had been the only way. Ironic? Yes. The war against dragons was finally ended with the help of a dragon. Now, that's ironic, but Toothless was one dragon. She was quickly warming up to him. He was like a big kitten, but he wasn't all dragons. He was a Night Fury, a dragon that no one knew anything about, except Hiccup apparently. She only had the words of a dead man to go by. For all she knew, Toothless was the only exception to the 'murderous mindless beasts' definition for dragons.

 _Words of a former dead Hiccup…_

"Hiccup. That night when you 'died,' what happened? All I know was that we had an argument and I left you alone in the forest. The next thing I knew I was turning back around, feeling guilty and all and I hear you screaming or something… I thought you died. There was blood and everything… I was… I…"

She sighed and looked him in the eye.

"I don't know why I am going to tell you this, but… I cried for you Hiccup."

Hiccup's eyes widened. She understood why. She had never really cried before then. She had always been the tough shield maiden, fearless, never going to shed a tear, but that night when he died… when she _thought_ he died, all the guilt, remorse, and heartache hit her hard all at once.

 _Heartache… There was that word again, 'heart.' Heartbroken. Heartache. Why do they keep coming to mind?_

Hiccup coughed awkwardly.

"Well, that's very touching Astrid. I didn't know you felt that way about me."

Astrid gave a solemn nod before the realization struck her.

"Oh."

She looked at him. Her eyes widened, another blush flushing her cheeks.

"Oh! No no no no no no! Not like that. Wait…"

That was when she noticed the smirk he was giving her and she groaned.

"You were just kidding around. Gods. I hate you."

"Love you too Astrid."

"Shut up."

"Hey, it is perfectly normal to actually have feelings for someone. I will completely understand if you love m—"

"I said shut up, Haddock!"

She glared at him with a flushed face before her expression softened a bit with a slight amusement upon her face. She looked at him with a curious expression on her face, her mouth curling up ever so slightly in the corners.

"Hang on a second. Were you just _flirting_ with me, Hiccup? Gods, you changed. What happened to the awkward kid who could barely find the words to actually speak to me?"

Hiccup smirked. Astrid felt her heart flutter a bit in her chest. Why?

He got up from where he sat and dusted off the dirt from his baggy leggings.

"I guess he grew up or something. A lot can happen in six years."

Astrid actually smiled.

"I-I guess so."

 _Damn it, Astrid. Pull yourself together. Stop staring into those big wonderfully handsome green eyes and—Stop! Change the subject. No more flirting! No more feeling attracted to the flirting. Gods, why did Hiccup have to come back to life and be so handsome… He isn't handsome! I didn't think that! Thor above, this isn't happening. Since when did Hiccup have this effect on me? My mind is in tatters because of him… But how is he still alive? What actually happened?_

Astrid looked at Hiccup again, biting her lip and pulling the wool blanket closer around her.

"So, what _did_ happen that night when you led everyone to think you were dead?"

He gave a nervous chuckle and smile, eyes a bit apologetic.

"Well, it was more like you _assumed_ I was dead. It-It was kind of an accident. Okay, so, we had that argument…"

* * *

 ** _Six and a half years ago_**

* * *

Fifteen year-old Hiccup was wandering through the forest in the retreating sunlight, toting a basket full of supplies. He hoped no one saw him leaving the village. It would make this so much easier.

He was leaving. Maybe it was an act of cowardice, like the tribe would pretty much call it, but he was leaving. To them, they would see this as being afraid and a coward since he was backing down from killing a dragon. But, he did _not_ want to kill a dragon! He would _not_ do it! There was no possible way for him to set aside his morals and ignore the fact that he would be killing a creature who would in any other scenario be a peaceful dragon, minding their own business. It was disgusting! A part of him wanted to stay and try and convince his father and the village about the truth he had discovered about dragons, but alas he knew that they would be just too stubborn to understand, too close-minded, too much the dragon-killers they had been raised to be.

Hiccup sighed. The scrawny fishbone of a boy was going to actually be doing this, running away with his best friend and leaving his life on Berk behind. Too be honest, it was about time. He should have done this before. It would have spared him a lot of pain and suffering by the hands of the village, but he had been obsessed in trying to prove himself to be someone he was not. He was not a dragon-killer. He knew that. Oh gods, did he know that…

He had befriended a Night Fury! The offspring of lightning and death itself! Gods, when he told Toothless that full title, the dragon may burst from his ego.

Hiccup smiled at the thought and shook his head, pausing to take a break after carrying the filled basket a good distance. He heaved a sigh and swiped his forehead.

He took a few moments catching his breath while looking around the forest he had known throughout his childhood. He had run off many times into this forest to escape the oppression of the village, but not nearly as often and long as he had been for the past couple weeks. He had a good reason. He found a friend in the most unlikely of creatures… a dragon.

It was ironic really. His own village, who was supposed to be his friends and family, treated him like trash, but his supposed archenemy, a dragon and Night Fury, had grown into the closest friend Hiccup could ask for, caring, stubborn, pain in the ass sometimes, but, nevertheless, the perfect picture of what a true friend was _supposed_ to be.

Speaking of Toothless, he was waiting for the boy to get back with what he needed for his new life: clothes, food, tools, boots, blankets, water, a couple of blank leather-bound journals, and his trusty portfolio of sketches and designs along with all of his charcoal sticks among other things. He brought some personal items along as well.

Hiccup picked up the basket once again and finished the last legs of his final journey from the village to the cove, ducking under the rock archway and unware of the girl who had been trailing him.

He sighed thinking about how much he wanted to leave this island and never come back. He looked around the cove and called out as he dropped the basket.

'Bud! We're leaving. We're leaving! Let's pack up! Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation, forever!" He knelt down next to the basket and began to put more things in that he had piled next to the rock, and didn't notice the Viking girl coming to sit upon said rock with an angry and vengeful look in her eyes.

Hiccup suddenly realized just what he was doing. He was leaving! He knew he was before, but he actually was leaving! 'Taking a little vacation, forever.' Yep, that pretty much summed it up.

Forever…

"Oh…man…" He murmured at the thought.

That was when he heard the sound of someone sharpening metal. How did he know that that is what the sound meant? He was a blacksmith's apprentice, for Thor's sake! And with that fact that the sound was in fact not just Toothless trying to sneak up on him and in fact _someone_ there with him, his head shot up and he toppled over in surprise.

"Aggggh! What the-" He gazed wide-eyed at the blonde Viking girl in spike shoulder pads and skirt with a tight blue tunic around her upper body. He quickly composed himself but still quite in a panic, eyes flicking around the cove in apprehension of what Toothless would do to her if he saw her. "What are you doing here?"

Astrid hopped off the rock and twirled her axe menacingly, showing she meant business, eyes fixing him with a glare.

Hiccup could see that she was a bit… angry, and he had a _pretty good_ idea what it was about.

She growled at him, pointing her axe at him as she approached.

"I want to know what's going on. No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking! Are you training with someone?"

Hiccup was now praying that Toothless was in a deep sleep and wouldn't hear anything while answering lamely.

"Uh...training?"

Wrong answer. Astrid flared with anger, and when she got angry like this, she got physical. She suddenly grabbed him by his flying harness, blue eyes flicking down at it with a slightly curious glint.

"It better not involve... this." She looked down, referring to the harness.

Hiccup held his hands out defensively.

"I know this looks really bad, but you see...this is, uh..."

He heard a rustle from the opposite end of the cove.

 _Oh Thors-dammit, Toothless_ …

Astrid seemed to hear it too and dropped him. She started to move to investigate the odd rustle, suspiciously.

Hiccup's eyes widened with fear… not for Toothless, but for Astrid. She has no idea what she is getting into.

 _Uh oh… Think! Think! Think! Do something!_

He scrambled up from the ground and quickly got in front of her.

"You're right! You're right. I'm through with the lies. I've been making..." He glanced at his harness and hastily gestured to it. "… outfits. So you got me. It's time everyone knew." He grabbed her hand and ut it on his chest, trying to get her to take him back to the village in a lame and hopeless attempt to do so. "Drag me back. Go ahead. Here we go."

He turned her around and began to get her to take him back to the village. He caught sight of a black dragon gazing with concerned interest over a rock at them, but Hiccup quickly shook his head when Astrid happened to not be looking, telling the dragon to not worry and hide. Toothless reluctantly dropped back down behind the rock after seeing the desperation in his rider's eyes.

Hiccup nearly sighed with the relief that flooded over him… but Astrid had other plans it seemed.

He cried out in pain as she roughly bended his hand backwards.

Relief gone!

"AAAAUUGGGHHH! Why would you do that?!" He complained through the pain while he fell to the ground.

Astrid smirked with cruel satisfaction, standing over him.

"That's for the lies."

Then she bounced the hilt of her axe off of his stomach hard, causing him to yelp.

"And _that's_ for everything else."

It must have been a miracle that Toothless hadn't responded to the pain of his friend.

Astrid took one more glance to the other side of the cove before deciding that the noise was nothing and rounding on the boy who just got to his feet, shaking his hand in an effort to stop the aching in it.

Hiccup held it up to her with a frown.

"Seriously?"

Astrid smacked it out of the way with a roll of her eyes, shoving her axe at him.

"So, are you training with someone?!" She yelled at him, her patience wearing thin and jealousy getting the better of her once more.

Hiccup groaned and threw his hands in the air.

"For Thor's sake, Astrid! No! I am not! Why does it even matter?" He frowned at her. Now that the panic of Toothless getting involved had subsided, he was starting to get pretty annoyed that she was here, nearly messing up his plans to leave, something he realized he _really_ wanted to do.

Astrid growled at him, eyes blazing with anger.

"Why does it matter?! It matters because you… you won! How?! How did you win?! You just got good overnight!"

She began to pace in front of him, seething in frustration and anger, and even… jealousy. Oh gods above, Hiccup actually made Astrid jealous. She had always excelled in everything she did, so she never had a reason to be jealous. But now…

Hiccup shook his head and leaned against a boulder, still calmly frowning at her.

"Maybe I always had it in me—"

Astrid scoffed at him, interrupting him.

"Oh no! There is NO way that is it! You are Hiccup! You are NOT a dragon-killer or fighter or whatever! You are just the village runt! How did you beat me? You stole the title from me!"

Hiccup couldn't help but feel saddened about how much this seemed to be eating away at the girl. He never told anyone, but he knew about her uncle and how much that was the reason she was the person she was today. Her uncle had seemingly frozen in terror in an encounter with a Flightmare. He had been killed, and the Hofferson family name had been tarnished. It seems that Astrid had tried her best all her life to be the absolute best in order to reestablish the honor of the family name. It worked. She quickly became known as Fearless. Now that she had that title and the reputation of being the best fighter there was in her age group, the only thing she had set her sights on and put everything she had into was becoming the Champion of Dragon Training, something that had been taken away by him it seemed.

It wasn't entirely his fault that he had won. He didn't even want to have the title anyway, but he couldn't tell her that.

Hiccup sighed.

"Look, Astrid, I'm sorry—"

Astrid yowled with fury and slammed her axe into a nearby tree, giving Hiccup a death glare.

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, FISHBONE! You screwed EVERYTHING up! That's the ONLY thing you're are good at!"

Was it Hiccup's imagination or were those tears in her eyes?

Astrid turned away with something that suspiciously sounded like a sob and yanked on her axe with one hand.

She cursed loudly when it didn't come out. She grabbed hold of it with two hands, as Hiccup hesitantly approached her.

"Look Astrid, I know that you wanted this. I'm sor—"

Suddenly, she pulled the axe free and whirled around with a yell of pained anger and gave him a hard punch to the face. He fell back, eyes flashing with hurt, as he cried out from the pain.

Hiccup rolled over and spit some blood out of his mouth. He was utterly stunned. A surge of emotions swept over him. Astrid had never punched him before. She never really hurt him before, not like the others did. She had always refrained from doing it as much as possible, which is one of the reasons he had some hope in her, that he and she could actually be friends and maybe more. It was a childhood fantasy that flew right out the window with the punch. He was struck with disappointment and hurt. He expected her to be physical but nothing like this.

He looked up at her with wide watery eyes, scampering away from her.

Astrid was frozen in place, eyes having traces of shock as she realized what she just did. She had just hit Hiccup Haddock. She had never punched him before. That had always been more Snotlout's thing. She had considered herself better than that, knowing Hiccup was weak and wouldn't fight back. It just didn't seem right to do it when he did nothing to deserve it other than failing in his attempts to be like everyone else and being a disaster.

She had a twinge of guilt but her still ever present anger was still there, forcing her rational mind away from her. She spoked in anger.

Astrid pointed her axe at him, voice seeming a bit shaky from emotion.

"I-I hope you that dragon KILLS you tomorrow, Haddock! You deserve it! You are useless! You always screw everything up!"

She seemed to be struggling with her emotions and ran off towards the exit of the cove as the sun became only a thin line of light on the western horizon.

Hiccup whimpered as he sat up on the ground and hung his head, nursing his bruising jaw. He was fortunate to not lose any teeth.

He heard something large bounding over to him and soon felt the familiar warmth of Toothless' snout pressing against his side, silently asking him what was wrong.

Hiccup sighed defeatedly, pushing the dragon's head away lightly.

"I'm okay, bud. Just gonna have a bruise later."

Toothless growled in irritation. Clearly, he wanted to chase after the girl who had done this to his friend.

Hiccup shook his head and looked up sadly into his companion's green concerned eyes.

"No, bud. Let her go. I… kind of ruined her life's goal. She didn't mean much of what she said… Or at least, I would rather think she didn't."

He sighed.

All his doubts about leaving were swept away. All the uncertainty was vanished from his mind. He not only wanted to leave, but he now felt an innate need to. Astrid was right. He always screwed up everything. He was useless. However, the only reason why he always screwed everything up was because he was trying to fit into a tribe and culture where he didn't belong, and they were too stubborn to change. He needed to find a place, a new home, where he could convince everyone there about dragons and finally belong somewhere. The only reason why he was useless here was because he was simply not a Viking, not a _true_ Viking at least. He didn't belong here. He had nothing left to keep him here. Maybe that was extreme, but he had made up his mind. And he wasn't going to change it.

Hiccup stumbled to his feet, ignoring Toothless' concerned warble and began to strap everything to his saddle.

Astrid's words had hit him deep. She had never said that many horrible things to him before. She wanted him dead? No, he was taking that comment too seriously. He knew she had said it more out of anger than anything else, but yet he couldn't help but feel sadness, hurt, and anger from her saying that.

Anger.

He suddenly felt a pain on his hand and he swore loudly as he dropped the dagger that he had not been aware he had been picking up the wrong way.

He shook his hand that now had a rapidly bleeding cut on it.

He felt a surge of stress and anger escape his mouth in a yell, and he yelled for all he was worth, the pitch nearly reaching a scream that would make Toothless proud. He suddenly cut off as Toothless nudged him hard in his stomach, knocking the breath out of him.

The dragon seemed very concerned about why he was yelling, thinking something had been wrong.

Hiccup sighed, rubbing his stomach and giving the Night Fury a weary reassuring smile.

"Sorry, bud. I just needed to get some stress out."

Toothless cocked his head to the side before apparently wanting to try it himself. Hiccup quickly covered his ears as the dragon released a short but loud and powerful screech.

The boy grinned at the cheeky smile the dragon gave him, reaching out a hand to pet him.

"Feels good, doesn't it, bu-? Oh, great…"

He retracted his hand just when he was about to touch the dragon, just now realizing that it was bleeding from the cut.

Hiccup clutched it to his shirt to try and stop the bleeding but then noticed that his shirt was already bloody and frowned.

"Oh, more greatness…" He grumbled, deciding to change his shirt.

He shrugged off his vest and laid it on Toothless' saddle and proceeded to pull off his shirt, smearing even more blood on it by accident.

However, just as he was doing that, he and Toothless both heard a feminine cry of panic coming towards the cove.

Hiccup yelped and somehow managed to rip his shirt in the process, eyes widening in horror.

He threw his arms in the air.

"Da DaDa! We're dead! We're dead!" He began to panic and pace around, unable to think of what to do. Should he stay and try and explain himself to whoever it was? Fat chance, considering he was with a dragon and was _bleeding_!

Wait! Why would that even matter, wasn't he leaving anyway?

Toothless released a loud roar that snapped Hiccup out of his panicky daze and into action.

Hiccup jumped and met the reptiles annoyed and agitated gaze that said 'What the Hel are you doing?! Let's go!'

"Oh! Oh! We got to leave! We were leaving!" He slapped his forehead with his nonbleeding hand. "Stupid! What was I thinking?!"

He hurriedly stripped himself of the torn sleeves of his now bloody and ruined tunic, except he kept one which he wrapped around his hand as he hastily climbed onto Toothless, but just his luck, as he was climbing onto the dragon, said dragon seemed to panic at the approaching person nearing the entrance to the cove and flinched away.

Hiccup fell off of him with a startled cry and landed with a 'uff!'

Toothless barked with apology at his fallen rider before hissing loudly at the entrance.

The boy's mind thought quickly as he struggled to get back up, having successfully spread more blood upon the rock behind him.

Great! This really wasn't going to look good if that person gets h—

His eyes widened.

The person was almost here!

"Toothless, blast the entrance to deter them!"

The dragon rapidly obeyed and shot a blast into the archway of said entrance, causing the rocks to fall as Hiccup heard and recognized the voice calling his name.

"HICCUP!"

He cursed as he yelled back at her in horror when he realized that she had been in the tunnel when it started to collapse.

"ASTRID!"

The rocks fell in place as Hiccup reached them still yelling her name. Toothless roared as he bounded over to his rider, who was trying to remove the rocks.

Hiccup snapped at him.

"I SAID DETER HER, NOT BURY HER ALIVE!"

The dragon clearly had no idea what was going on anymore and rolled his eyes and warbled sarcastically at the human.

Hiccup was about to yell at the dragon to help him when he heard the angelic voice from behind the blockage in clear distress.

Was she really that worried for him?

He breathed a sigh of relief but flinched as Toothless roared again.

 _Must this dragon keep roaring, for Thor's sake?!_

Toothless looked concerned and frightened and hastily lowered himself to the ground so his shirtless rider could get on, looking like he very much wanted to get out here and never come back.

Hiccup didn't blame him, because he wanted to too.

The boy nodded to the dragon, nervously glancing to the rim of the natural bowl they were in. Astrid seemed to be trying to get over the top. He needed to get out of here.

He wanted to get out of here.

It was a mess! Of course, the gods would not let him leave that easily! They had to make this _interesting_ , didn't they?

Hiccup mounted Toothless with a single leap and flicked the tailfin into the right position right as Toothless leapt into the air, roaring out.

 _Seriously, Toothless?!_

They launched over the rim of the cove and straight into the dark night air, conveniently just when Astrid had made it to the top.

Hiccup grimaced when he saw her fall over after the wind gust generated by Toothless knocked her over, feeling a tad guilty and pretty sure that he just _accidently_ faked his own death by a dragon.

But, he wasn't turning back now. So, what if they thought him dead? It's probably what most of them wanted anyway. Good riddance, they'll say. If any of them felt any grief for his 'loss,' then so be it. They deserved it for all the years of pain they caused him without a single 'I'm sorry.'

Hiccup sighed as he focused on what was ahead of him, ignoring the fleeing lights of Berk behind him.

 _Good bye, Berk. Not exactly how I wanted to leave you, but farewell. And, hello, world…_

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

* * *

Astrid gaped at Hiccup when he finished recounting what happened that night.

She blinked in utter disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me. _That's_ what happened?!"

Hiccup laughed as he stacked the wood for the fire.

" _That's_ what happened. If I'm lying, I'm dying. So… I'm not lying."

Astrid moaned and buried her face in one of her hands. She couldn't believe it, but yet that's what happened. Seems crazy, probably because it is crazy, but it made sense.

She shook her head, looking up.

"Wow. I thought you got mauled and eaten by a dragon. There was all this blood. You were screaming. Dragon roaring. You really freaked me out. I felt guilty about what I said to you and was headed back to apologize." She caught the raised eyebrow of the man and glared at him. "Oh, don't give that look. Yes, I was going to _apologize_." She snapped.

Hiccup held up his hands in defense with a smirk.

"Okay. Okay. I'll take your word for it. The Astrid Hofferson I knew never apologized, that's all."

Astrid grew a little pale at that, biting her lip and sighing. He had a point there. A sad but true point. She needed to do this. She needed to get it off her chest. It had been six years coming. About time she said it.

"Well, I've changed. So, _this_ Astrid is going to say 'I'm sorry.' So, I'm sorry." And looked at him with a sincere guilty look, but he held an indifferent expression. "I'm so so sorry, Hiccup. I shouldn't have done all those things to you I shouldn't have said those things to you, growing up or that night. I-I was just so jealous and angry. My life goal was taken from me, you know? I didn't take it well."

Hiccup snorted, rubbing his hand along his jaw.

"Obviously." He muttered before catching her glare and sighing with a frown, recounting all the bad things she had ever done to him.

"Sorry." He said stepping back from the prepared fire. He looked back at the woman who had her head hung low. She really did feel sorry, didn't she? His mind was alight with possibilities.

She looked up at him with sad eyes.

"I don't expect you to forgive me. You really shouldn't after everything we— I— put you through. I just needed to get it out. It has been something that has been tormenting me for years. Gods, I was so miserable…" She trailed off staring off into the distance. She remembered the time after she had made it back to the cove too late to 'save' Hiccup. She had indeed been miserable. It had been a long while until she found her old self again… well, she had changed permanently after the incident.

She had taken it upon herself to protect and defend the weak, something she hadn't done before. Everyone thought she was milder than she had been, bordering on weak in some of their minds, but she had proved to them she still had her fire when Snotlout started to praise her for a gentle and caring heart toward the weak and defenseless. _That_ had pissed her off. How dare that boy say something like that when his cousin had fallen into the same category of the people she was standing up for and yet Snotlout made sure to make his life a living Hel?! Needless to say, Snotlout spent a couple days in the healer's hut, but that boy just didn't know how to stop. It wasn't until his father saw how violent she was getting on the matter that he had a long talk with his son about not saying such things in order to, in essence, save his life from the tempered blonde shield maiden.

Astrid closed her eyes, remembering the pain of each anniversary of the so-called death. She remembered all the not-so proud moments in her life that she had done something bad to Hiccup. Thinking back on it, it seemed like she hadn't had a soul when she participated in the teasing and bullying of the tribe's runt. No, Hiccup couldn't forgive her. He shouldn't forgive her. She didn't deserve it. To top it off, she had even wished him to be killed by a dragon and said it to his face, so when he had seemed to actually have been killed by a dragon, she had fallen into the deepest depths of guilt and despair. Perhaps that is why she felt she had changed after that? Maybe, but it still doesn't change the fact that she had done all those horrible things to him.

No… She didn't deserve his forgiveness.

That was when she heard a sigh and then…

"I forgive you."

Astrid snapped her head up at him with disbelief. Hiccup smirked at her and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, don't give me that look. Yes, I forgave you." He said cheekily.

Astrid didn't smile but only stared at him like he was crazy.

"Hiccup…" She breathed. "W-Why? I did so many bad things to you, and the things I didn't do, I didn't bother to stop, which is _just_ as bad! I don't deserve it, Hiccup. I don't..." She trailed off when she saw the wide warm smile on his face.

Hiccup shook his head, smile widening.

"You're SO not the Astrid I knew. You've changed… _a lot_. And, Astrid…" He squatted down beside with a smile, careful not to get too close and make her uncomfortable. "It's a good change. I'm not mad… haven't been for a long time. So yeah, Astrid, I forgive you, and you better take my forgiveness because I will have it no other way."

Her eyes were wide as she took in what he said. She felt the relief envelop her like a warm and welcoming blanket. She felt her eyes beginning to sting but she held back the tears and just put on a big smile as she sighed with relief, feeling the burden come off of her with those magic words of his.

"Thank you…" She murmured, eyes closing.

Hiccup grinned as he wiped his hands free of any dirt they had on them after building the fire.

"Your welcome. Now, how about we get this fire started, hm?"

Astrid opened her eyes and nodded at him, shivering slightly from the cold that had descended upon them with the darkness.

"Fire sounds good right now

She watched him walk over to Toothless and scratched the reptile's chin.

"Will you do the honors, bud?"

The dragon seemed to not look too happy about being disrupted from his relaxation to do such a simple activity such as lighting a fire but he relented.

Astrid was struck by confusion.

 _The honors? The honors for wha- SON OF A HALF-TROLL!_

Her heart skipped a beat as the dragon had quite unexpectedly and suddenly fired a short burst of blue flame into the prepared stack of wood logs. She was breathing heavily and heart was racing. She _really_ had not been prepared for that.

"Uh, Astrid?" It was Hiccup's voice but it sounded weird and nervous.

She blinked as she looked at him to see what was wrong but only to see him turned away, shielding his eyes from her.

And that was when she realized…

"OH GODS!"

She snatched the blanket that had fallen in her fright, which had left the upper half of her feminine body exposed, and clasped it over her, face going a deep red.

 _Oh Thor, strike me dead. Hiccup just saw my breasts…._

"I-I really need those clothes…" Her voice was barely over a hushed whisper when she spoke.

Hiccup nodded awkwardly, still turned away.

"Um, I will finish them right now. How about that? Yeah, now sounds good. Okay, so duly noted that you don't like Toothless' way of starting a campfire. Note to self: don't do cool stuff in front of Astrid or she might expose herself to—"

"Hiccup! Just make the damn clothes!"

"Err, good idea… Yeah, I-I'll just… do that."

* * *

Astrid was dozing by the fire, a blanket wrapped tightly around her body while she sat on the log. She still couldn't believe Hiccup was still alive. She had believed for so long that he had perished by that of a dragon. Since then, she had come to terms with his demise. She had made her peace with it and continued to grow up. After his death, she had felt many things. One thing in particular confused her. When she thought that Hiccup died, it felt like her heart had been shot by an arrow. It felt like something had been taken away from her before she even realized what she had.

And now, she just found out that Hiccup was alive and well and was a dragon rider? That confusing feeling was creeping back into her. The same feeling that made her feel like she had lost something before she knew what that something was.

She watched the flames dance around in the fire. She couldn't remember the last time she had sat by a campfire like this. All the fire she seemed to have ever known was that from dragon attacks and raids by Berk's enemies. Now, she was sitting next to fire on a peaceful night with someone who she had thought was dead for years and his dragon companion. Could it get any different?

She heard Hiccup let out a sigh and looked across the fire pit to see him examining his handiwork.

He grinned at her.

"Well, it isn't my best work, but it will do until we get you some real clothes. Here, take them behind Toothless and get changed. I will turn the other way to give you some privacy, and Toothless?" The reptile gave no indication that he was awake or that he heard the man besides a snort of acknowledgement. "No, peeking either, bud."

Another snort, this time a slight sarcastic tone to it as if to say 'Oh really? No, I was going turn and stare at her. Of course, I won't peek!'

Or at least, that's what Astrid pictured him saying.

Astrid got up, making sure to keep a hand on her chest, securing the wool blanket she had wrapped around her body. She got a little anxious when she approached Hiccup, but she managed to grab the shirt and leggings from him before retreating a short distance.

"Thanks."

Once she turned away, she scolded herself for being so scared of him. All he was doing was trying to help. She had no reason to think that he would try anything even remotely close to what those Outcasts put her through. She shuddered just thinking about it. No, she preferred Hiccup by far. He was the one who saved her after all, but she couldn't help but feel wary. He had led her and the entire village to believe that he had died and seemed perfectly content with keeping it that way. He changed over these six years. The boy Astrid once knew wasn't necessarily the man who he had become. In all sense, this Hiccup, this grown up Hiccup, was almost a stranger to her.

Astrid walked around to the other side of the sleeping dragon and looked back to see that Hiccup was sitting, facing the other way, but the hulking form of the dragon provided enough cover anyway.

She let the blanket about her fall, exposing her feminine form. She shivered as the cool air hit her bare white skin and winced at the slight pain that emanated from the gash that crossed her front. She definitely will get a scar from it.

She had grown more these six years. Her body now was more mature, muscles toned to perfection and every inch of her skin stretched taunt over them. Did she know she was a beautiful woman? Yes, she did and loved it, but she also despised it. Many a man, including Snotlout had tried to gain her hand in marriage. Fortunately, her parents were very understanding and sympathized with her warrior spirit. They promised to never accept any marriage contract that she didn't consent to. Which she was extremely thankful for, since Snotlout seems to be unwilling to stop until he has her as his wife. If that happened—and it shouldn't- , she was pretty certain that she would kill him at the wedding ceremony… if it got _that_ far. Hel, she probably would kill him the moment she figured out that the contract had been accepted and then probably scream at her parents with as much thunder and power that Thor himself might wilt under her scolding.

Astrid smiled at that, absentmindedly rubbing at the bandage on her chest. She stopped when she realized that it may irritate the wound and that she had been standing in the open naked for way too long than she should have been comfortable with.

She had a sudden thought of Hiccup turning around to see what was wrong and blushed deeply as she quickly unfolded the first article of clothing. She didn't want to risk Hiccup seeing her naked. It would be just too awkward. Way too awkward and downright embarrassing.

Astrid slipped on the baggy leggings that had been adjusted to fit her nicely. She then slipped the tunic over her head, grimacing at pain stretching her wound caused but sighing with relief when the tunic was finally on. The tunic was loose on her frame. Hiccup had made it from a large section of cloth that he happened to have with him in case of emergencies. She wasn't sure what emergencies would need a big piece of fabric, but she was thankful that he had it because she didn't want to go without clothes.

Astrid breathed a sigh of relief. She felt a sense comfort knowing that she was covered. It made her feel less vulnerable, which was a great relief after what she had been through.

She gathered up the blanket and went to join Hiccup by the fire. He was busy roasting some fish over it. Seeing the two fish made her mouth water. She hadn't eaten for three days.

Hiccup looked up at her when she approached and raised an eyebrow.

"How do they fit?"

Astrid walked to over to the log he was sitting at and sat on the opposite end.

"Yeah, they're alright. Thank you. I don't know how I can repay you for this, for all of this. You saved me. You treated my wounds. Y-You made me clothes. I don't know how I—"

Hiccup interrupted her with a dismissing wave of his hand.

"Just a 'Thank You' will be good, Astrid. You don't owe me anything."

Astrid gave him a smile and turned back to the fire. She really couldn't believe how nice he was to her after all the things she had done to him growing up. She still couldn't wrap her head around that he was still alive after all these years. She shook her head in disbelief.

"I still can't believe that you're alive. Wait until the village sees you. They are going to freak out." She smiled at the thought of what Ruffnut's expression would be like when she sees how much Hiccup has _changed_.

No response.

She noticed Hiccup's silence and turned to see him frowning at the fire. She gave him a confused look. Was it something she said?

"Hiccup?

He didn't respond for a moment, but when he did, his voice was soft but stern.

"I'm not going back to Berk."

Astrid looked at him stunned.

"Why not? Don't you want to see your father?"

Hiccup laughed and shook his head, looking into her blue eyes like she was crazy.

"Yeah, can you imagine how that will work? 'Hey, dad, I didn't die all those years ago. Oh, and I'm friends with a Night Fury.'"

He adopted a deep tone to his voice as he impersonated his father, moving his arms comically to his voice. Astrid was disappointed by this reaction but couldn't help the amused grin that pulled at the corners of her mouth at the sight of him imitating his father.

"'Oh, wow, son. I'm soooo proud of you. I don't mind that you are friends with a dragon. They aren't violent creatures intent on destroying us. Everything is just fine.'" Hiccup chuckled with a smile but then sighed and all of that cheeriness was replaced by a grim expression and serious tone. "Yeah, I don't think it will be that simple. Besides, I like my life. Why should I go back?" He asked to no one in particular as he stared into the fire and threw a stick into it.

"There isn't anything left for me on Berk." He finished.

Astrid looked back at the fire, disappointed at his remarks, but she knew he had a valid point. How _would_ his father react? Stoic finding out that his son is alive will already be an emotional blow. How will he respond to the fact that his son has also befriended a dragon and now rides him? She could only imagine his reaction after what happened to Hiccup's mother. She had a hard time thinking that Hiccup's father would take it lightly…but they are father and son. There should be no reason that Hiccup shouldn't try. He just needed to take it a step at a time to soften the blow.

She looked up at Hiccup to see his head resting in his hands, elbows propped up on his knees. She suddenly had a concerned thought.

"Hiccup, what have you been doing all this time? Six years is a long time to be alone."

He scoffed and looked at her with a grin.

"Who says I've been alone?"

Astrid rolled her eyes but then looked at him with concern.

"Yeah, Yeah, your dragon friend and all, but I mean besides him. I think you have spent too much time away from people… W-Why are you laughing?"

Astrid raised an eyebrow and glared at the chuckling young man seated at the opposite end of the log. Hiccup looked at her with amused eyes.

"I appreciate the concern, Astrid, but I don't think you need to worry about me being lonely."

He grinned with amusement at her confused face and explained.

"When I left, I searched for a new home for me and Toothless, and I found it. I've been living there ever since. I've made friends, Astrid… Gods, you didn't think I was some traveling hermit who has been living amongst dragons for the past six years, have you?"

She just gaped at him. Friends? New home?

"Wait, you mean you have _friends_ that you have not told me about?! Who?! Where?! When did you meet them?! How long?!"

Hiccup shook his head with a grin before standing up and walking over to one of the pouches on the saddle, next to which lay the tail rig.

When he came back over, he was carrying a leather-bound book. He sat back down closer to her, causing her to subconsciously flinch at his presence, but she could tell that it was a sketchbook of some sort and ignored her unease to shuffle closer to him so that she was sitting shoulder to shoulder to him.

"What's this?"

"My Sketch Journal. It has everything that I have sketched in the past 6 years and even before I left. See. This is my first concept of the rig I built for Toothless' prosthetic tailfin."

Astrid looked at the charcoal drawn sketch on the paper. She had seen him making sketches all the time back at Berk but now regretted not taking interest in them before he left. She was impressed by how detailed and clean it was. It was obvious that Hiccup had an artistic skill. As he flipped through the book, she saw a couple of amazingly realistic and detailed sketches of the very same dragon that was snoring behind them. One such sketch showed the dragon's playful side. It showed the reptile rolling around in a patch of grass, trying to catch a butterfly. Another sketch depicted the Night Fury frowning as what appeared to be a group of Terrible Terrors climbed all over him. One of the little dragons was perched directly on the top of the black dragon's head, seemingly unaware that the larger dragon was casting a glare up at it.

Astrid couldn't suppress a snicker as she looked back at the reptile. She would never think a dragon could be so gentle and playful. Maybe there _were_ more to these beasts than met the eye after all.

Hiccup nudged her with a grin, bringing her attention back to the sketchbook.

"You were wondering where I've been? Well, this is the humble village of Dale. It is on the far northeastern edge of the archipelago. It's secluded and better yet, the small amount of people living there were easy to convince about dragons, especially after I gained their trust by saving the chief's daughter."

Astrid was intrigued to see a sketch of an overlook of a village perched at the top of a tall hill next to a cliff face that plunged to the water below. The hill sloped down gently to a single dock where two ships were moored. The island was positioned close to another. Trees filled the opposite end from the village. The large island next to the one that held the village was densely forested. In the background of the sketch, a sunset was depicted, making the landscape seem so peaceful when coupled with the mist that hung across it. If the village was as peaceful as it looked, Astrid could understand why Hiccup wasn't so ready to just leave it behind.

"You've been living there? And they have no problems with your dragon friend?"

Hiccup laughed as he jabbed a thumb back at Toothless.

"Are you kidding? Toothless here is the official guardian of the village… As if his ego wasn't already inflated." He added.

There was a snort from the supposedly sleeping dragon, and an eye opened to glare at the man.

Astrid grinned as she looked at him.

"I think he heard you."

Hiccup chuckled as he removed the fish from the fire and set them aside to cool.

"I'm sure he didn't. Cause that will be eavesdropping, and no one likes an eavesdropper, especially when they are a big lazy reptile who likes to sleep all day. Isn't that right, b- OW!"

Astrid couldn't help a burst of laughter as Toothless whacked his master upside the head with his tail, knocking Hiccup to the ground. The reptile chortled with amused laughter of his own as he got up and stretched his limbs.

Astrid stopped laughing as soon as she saw the extent of the dragon's intimidating form. He wasn't the biggest of all the dragon's but it was obvious that his body was built for speed and maneuverability. His black scales blended into the shadows of the woods behind him. She could see why a Night Fury was never seen. He was the color of night and looked capable of reaching immense speeds for lightning attacks. By the time you realized the dragon attacked, it would already be far away and charging up another blast.

Toothless extended his wings to their fullest, making Astrid's eyes widen.

 _Now that… is a wingspan. Wow._

The dragon warbled something to Hiccup.

The young man grinned but shook his head.

"Sorry, bud. No flying tonight. We'll go tomorrow. We need to get Astrid home anyways."

Astrid eyes wide eyes got wider and flicked towards the man, stunned. She didn't know if the mentioning of flying aboard a dragon or returning home was more frightening… No, home was safe. She wanted to go home. Yes, that's it, right? She wanted—

"No!" She found herself yelling on impulse before she could stop herself, breathing quickly, eyes widening still further.

Hiccup blinked in surprise, green eyes peering with confusion and amazement at the distressed woman next to him.

"Uh… What?"

Astrid released a shaky sigh while she scolded herself for saying what she said. Why did she say that? The truth was… she already knew the answer. She was afraid and disturbed. She wasn't ready.

She gulped as she looked back at him.

"I-I don't want to go home… not yet…"

Hiccup noticed her haunted look as she turned her attention back to the fire. He frowned with concern as he picked up one of the skewered fish and gently nudged her with his hand.

She flinched a bit at the contact but relaxed when she saw the fish.

Astrid gave him a grateful smile and accepted the meal.

She kept taking glances at him as they ate.

He is so nice and kind. He acted the same as he did years ago, a little awkward and sarcastic at times, but there was something else. He looked different. That is obvious, but this wasn't about the changes that happened when he grew up since the last time she saw him. No, he looked older in the way you do when you have experienced many things that have since become a part of who you are.

That was when she started to notice the scars. She noticed a particularly defined and large scar on his chest when his shirt fell away from it as he leaned forward to stoke the fire more.

She gaped at Hiccup. What happened to him?! That scar was… wow. How did he get it?! She was too afraid to ask, fearing that it wasn't something he liked to talk about.

Astrid noticed his sketchbook laying closed between them. The answer had to be inside that book somewhere. She noticed when he was flipping through it that it also acted as a journal, inscriptions of runes documenting different events of his life, like when he was sketching Toothless he would write a little commentary about what was happening. The book was obviously a treasured possession of his. It was a bit worn from use. It had been carefully wrapped in leather. She also suspected that the book didn't exist for the whole six years. It must be a collection of different sketches from a variety of different origins, from scrap paper to pages extracted from other books.

It was a scrapbook. Yes, that was it. It is a scrapbook. It held memories. Perhaps, memories of everything that happened to him in the past six years?

Astrid was filled with curiosity and hesitantly started to reach for the book only for a certain dragon to thrust his big scaly head between the two humans, blocking her path and scaring her… yet again… in the process.

She gasped at the sudden action from Toothless who was now nuzzling a laughing Hiccup but quickly relaxed.

The dragon had his mouth open playfully, not a tooth to be seen. That reminded her…

Hiccup reached into a basket and pulled out a fish.

Astrid smiled and leaned over so that she could make eye contact with Hiccup on the other side of the head.

"So, I thought all dragons had teeth. Why doesn't he have any? I didn't expect the most feared dragon in the world to not have—OH THOR ALMIGHTY!"

Toothless' teeth flashed out in a dangerous manner and snapped around the fish that Hiccup had been dangling in in front of him.

Hiccup smirked at the shocked woman now recoiling in "slight" panic from the dragon, eyes nearly perfect circles with how wide they got.

"That answer your question, milady?"

Astrid started to laugh a bit in shock and awe at what she just witnessed and Hiccup's joke. She had her hand placed over her rapidly beating heart as she sat back up again.

"S-So his teeth retract?"

Hiccup gave her a nod, beaming at her interest.

"Yeah, it's why I called him Toothless. Pretty cool, huh? There is so many things about dragons that you don't know about… For example."

Hiccup began scratching a spot on the dragon's neck and instantly Toothless began to lull his tongue out. His back leg began to twitch.

Astrid laughed.

"So, you can make a dragon look adorable. So what?"

Hiccup grinned and held up a finger and shifted his hand to scratch Toothless' jaw and then cheek. The dragon froze for a moment before his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his head collapsed onto the portion of the log between them, motionless.

Astrid's eyebrows raised in surprise as she cautiously prodded the reptile's head. She began to grin like she hadn't grinned before in a long time, filled with child-like curiosity and excitement.

"Okay, how did you do that? He's sound asleep. Wh—How—How? Gods. Okay, have to admit. That was pretty cool."

 _And hot- Shut Up!_

Hiccup smiled.

"Depending on the type of dragon, if you scratch them in a specific way, you can get them to fall asleep. Like. That." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

Astrid shook her head with a smile.

"Wow… You know? He is like a big kitten when he isn't attacking people… I maybe crazy but… I'm starting to believe what you say about dragons. I mean if a Night Fury acts like this. I wonder how other dragons act..."

Hiccup was staring back into the fire, looking thoughtful. He opened his mouth to speak but then closed it only to open it again while turning back to Astrid.

He sounded hesitant but hopeful.

"You know, uh… I could… I could take you back to Dale and teach you a few things, if you want."

Astrid was speechless. She felt her heart soar but also sink at the same time. The offer was tempting, but the thought of stepping so far out of her own life at Berk and into Hiccup's new one seemed a bit… weird. It felt weird. This was the same boy who she thought had died six years ago, and she just found out he was alive shortly before sunset, not too long ago.

He was almost a complete stranger to her after those six years, but yet the offer was very tempting. She didn't want to go back to Berk right away, but yet being so far away from home seemed daunting. She had been kidnapped from her home by a group of vile Vikings during a raid. She had been abused. She had nearly been rap… No, she didn't want to think of that word. She didn't want to think of any of the events of the past couple days. So much had happened in such a short amount of time and had left her wounded in both heart and mind as well as body. She needed time to adjust, but did she really need to travel so far away from home to do so?

She wondered what her parents would be thinking, what her little brother would be thinking. She knew they will be worried. She knew that the longer she was away the longer their pain would endure. She wondered if her chief would launch a search for her at their request. Actually, she knew he would. He had been treating her like the daughter he never had for a while now. Sometimes she wondered if he was going to make her heir instead of Snotlout. But she wasn't ready to be found. She wasn't ready to go back. She had felt violated— No, not felt. She _had_ been violated, though thankfully not in the worst way possible, and returning now would only make her extremely uncomfortable. She knew that they would want to know everything that happened to her, but she knew that she would not be able to tell them without seeming weak and broken.

Maybe she was broken… If she was, that would be even more of a reason not to return right away. She needed some time to heal and recover. She needed a distraction.

Hiccup's offer provided that distraction. Instead of the focus being on her, the focus would be on him and his life, but could she really go with him to a place full of strangers and find peace?

Astrid breathed an uncertain sigh before looking back at Hiccup who was patiently waiting for a response. She gave him a small smile.

"It's tempting, Hiccup. I really want to know how you beat me in Dragon Training. But, I don't know…" She looked away with a sad look. "I have a lot to think about. I mean I _just_ found out you were still _alive_ not too long ago, and after what happened to me…" Her voice trailed off before coming to a conclusion. "Just let me sleep on it."

Hiccup gave her a reassuring smile, and Astrid had a strange feeling that he knew what she was feeling and was willing to help. He stretched his arms.

"You don't have to decide tonight, but I don't have all the time in the world to wait for you. You have till noon tomorrow to decide. I need to get back to Eira… uh... n-nevermind. I have been away from Dale too long, that's all. Three days to be exact. I wasn't expecting to retaliate against the Outcasts upon hearing about that raid on Berk, and I definitely didn't think I would be saving your life either." He gave her a grin before walking over to get something from the saddle bag. "Anyways, get some rest. We'll decide on what to do in the morning."

Astrid looked at him quizzically for a moment before nodding. She was wondering how he knew she was being held prisoner, but it seemed that he hadn't known after all. He must have been in the area, heard about the raid, decided to get a little revenge, and by coincidence saw her and saved her. Regardless, _he_ saved her. Hiccup saved her. She felt indebted to him now as strange as that sounded. _Her_ indebted to _Hiccup_.

She began to get up to begin to get situated for bed when Hiccup's sketchbook caught her eye.

It was laying on the ground, knocked over by Toothless' intrusion. It was opened to a spot towards the middle of the book. There was a highly-detailed picture of a teenaged girl with long flowing dark hair and gleaming eyes. She seemed to be smiling at the artist with one of the most kind and caring looks that Astrid had ever seen depicted in a drawing. The girl was sitting on a rock at the top of a cliff. Behind her was the calm ocean and a setting sun with traces of a forest to the right side of the sketch. The girl's knees were brought up to her chest with her arms curled around them. She was smiling at the sketcher. Her Kransen restrained hair and dress seemed to be blowing in a light wind.

Astrid found herself leaning forward to pick up the book to get a better look at the sketch when Hiccup beat her to it. His haste startled her as he quickly snapped close the book and clutched it to his chest.

He sounded a bit nervous, eyes glinting with panic as he blushed a bit.

"W-We should probably get some rest, don't you think? Long day tomorrow."

Astrid blinked in surprise and confusion, head ablaze with questions about what she just observed, but she managed to mutter out an agreement and went back to the pile of furs and blankets and brought a few closer to the fire. She laid down on them and pulled the wool blankets over her as she laid back in the bunched-up furs that acted as a pillow.

Hiccup took a spot on the opposite side of the campfire by the sleeping dragon.

Astrid rolled over and noticed him staring at something in the book while fiddling with something on his left leg. She couldn't see what it was on his leg, but she felt like she was prying now. He seemed to have a glint in his eye like he was thinking about something… or someone.

She felt guilty watching him during what seemed to be a personal moment for the man, so she rolled onto her back and stared up at the night sky above her, pondering what she learned in the past day.

Hiccup's alive. He has a dragon companion. Dragons aren't what they're believed to be, and much more.

And then there is that sketch of that girl. Who was she?

Astrid's mind traveled back to that slipup he made. 'Eira'? Who is Eira? She knew that whoever they were, they were probably a girl or woman. Could Eira be the girl in the sketch? Why did Hiccup want to keep her secret? Wait… Did Hiccup have a girlfriend?

She looked across the fire at him, dumbfounded. The possibility of Hiccup being in love hadn't crossed her mind. Well, she knew he had had a crush on her back at Berk. It was kind of hard not to notice that, but him being in love with someone else?

The more Astrid thought about it the more she realized just how little she knew about Hiccup.

Astrid knew it wasn't her business to meddle with his past, but she was filled by curiosity about what happened in his life during the past six years, why he never came back to Berk, why he was being secretive about this Eira, why he was trying to hide the sketch of the girl in the book. She wanted to know who Hiccup Haddock the Third really was, what man he had become.

 _Perhaps I should go with him to this Dale place. Not only will it distract me from what… from what happened but I may learn more about him along the way. I want to meet this Eira. She has to be his girlfriend, right? It makes since, but still… Hiccup having a girlfriend? It's all too surreal. If he does, I'm proud for him, but if he doesn't, that would make him single and free… Oh Gods, I think I feel attracted to him. I never found anybody attractive before! First time for everything, right?_

With that she allowed herself to fall asleep, which was curiously peaceful compared to the other times she fell asleep in the past four days.

 _Who are you Hiccup Haddock? What happened these last six years?_

* * *

 **And scene...**

 **So what do you think? I have no idea how good I am going to be with you HTTYD readers. I hope I captured the world of HTTYD right. To be honest, I've only watched a measly portion of the TV shows. I know I feel bad! But I just don't have time to go and watch them all. Besides, I personally find the movies to be of better quality myself, but that is just me.**

 **Anyways, like this concept? It is not a new AU idea. You know. The whole 'Hiccup leaves before he has to kill Nightmare' idea is nothing new, but I hope I have stirred your interests as to just what happened the past six years in Hiccup's life as well as Astrid's, though the story is going to be focused on Hiccup's past. So, prepare yourself for lots of flashbacks in the future!**

 **Now, depending on the amount of attention this story gets, I might not update often... Actually, I _won't_ update often. I currently am hard at work at _Zootopia_ fanfiction and will continue to give them my primary attention. **

**Another reason for the 'not going to update often' situation is because of the length of the chapters that I am planning on writing. I mean this chapter was a monstrosity compared to the length of the chapters in my other stories! Around 18k words! Woah...**

 **Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed and have some interest in this, as I think it will be a wonderful story filled with humor, angst, love, and drama!**

 **That's the plan. I know. Not too much of a plan, but hey, I have a vision in mind for this story and I'll see how long it takes me. Good grief... I wouldn't be surprised if it takes me years to get done with this thing. I got to learn to stop making new projects for myself before I completed my current ones! But where's the fun in that? Why make it easier on myself? Geez...**

 **Any who,**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **StoryCrusader**


	2. Chapter 2: Freedom From Burdens

**What's up? What's up? Hey, guys. Got another long chapter for you. About 4k words shorter, but still long. Anyways, I appreciate the patience. I see a few still asking whether this will be a Hiccstrid or not. And again I will say this, the characters write the story. If Hiccup and Astrid do in fact want to get together, they will influence my writing to have me give them just that... unless I throw something... tragic in the mix. Who knows? ;)**

 **But seriously, I have already made my decision on the final relationship between Hiccup and Astrid and will keep dropping clues mixed with uncertainties to mess with you all. I think you guys will like what I have in store for you. It's going to be dramatic, have lots of OC goodness, and have a generous helping of Astrid and Hiccup bonding. The only question is: will their relationship become more romantic or will it only reach the just-friends stage? Da. Da. DA! Stay tuned... ;)**

 **Without further ado...**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Freedom From Burdens  
**

* * *

Two individuals lay sleeping in the night.

One is a man who is struggling with the new and worried about the old.

The other is a woman faced with both torment just days old and torment longstanding.

Each reuniting with the old.

They say ghosts roam the night, ever searching to connect the current times with the past. They come when you sleep. They roam your thoughts. They roam your dreams. They come as apparitions from the past to haunt your sleep and fill your thoughts. Shifting apparitions telling you to never forget, fading in the memories.

The past is a curious thing. Set in stone, it cannot change yet change it brings, shifting and altering the present, sending ghosts from the past to the current times to shape the future to come, but fate is stranger.

Unaltered it stands, winding its way through time and life. It decides the past. It decides the future. It thrives in the present. Fate is a curious thing. Set in stone but flexible in its ways, it twists and turns, loops and curves, gives and takes. It is a force that only the gods can control, and control it they do.

The present is defined by the past. The ghosts sent from the past to the present time offer confrontations and renewal of emotions and thoughts.

Fate is the instigator, and the gods its masters. It stirs the ghosts and calls them to the present to set in stone the future ahead.

We can only pray that our hearts' desires and wishes are fulfilled so that happiness will reign supreme, but fate is a strange thing… a mischievous thing...

* * *

 ** _Six and a half years ago_**

* * *

Astrid felt terrible.

She wiped away at her face, sniffing from her little emotional moment, as she weaved through the trees. When her anger had died down after she had left Hiccup in that cove, she had been shocked by her actions, by her words. She had never been afraid of roughing up anyone. She did it to Snotlout all the time. She was disgusted by his attempts to make her his. He deserved it, but what she did to Hiccup…

She had hurt him before, but it was relatively harmless… mean but harmless, never hurting him and leaving a mark, but… did that make it right?

Astrid was struck with an uncertainty. She had been blinded by her jealousy and anger before and had failed to realize the admiration she had for him. When he started to succeed in dragon training, she had been amazed like everyone else. What shocked and impressed her even more was _how_ he was succeeding. He seemed to do it effortlessly, singlehandedly taking on dragons several times his size, but he didn't seem to be actually fighting them. In fact, he barely broke a sweat all throughout training. Everything he did seemed so simple, so effortless. To him, it seemed like it was as easy as a stroll around the village.

But, she had worked and trained for years. For years! She had put everything she had into making her dream of being Dragon Training Champion a reality. She had strived to be the best. She never settled for less… but maybe that was her problem…

Astrid wandered back the way she had ran.

Those eyes…

She couldn't shake the disappointment and hurt in his eyes when she had punched him and so heartlessly told him that she wished he died tomorrow. She felt…

Astrid felt the sinking feeling in her stomach.

She felt guilty. It was a horrible sickening feeling. She had to apologize to the fishbone who somehow managed to steal her title—

No, not steal, and not _her_ title.

She was just so self-centered. She realized that now. She was too focused on _her_ own dreams and maintaining _her_ reputation to bother caring about anyone else, especially Hiccup. He had been a failure for most of his life. Everyone called him useless, her included. No one expected him to become anyone or anything. He was just dead weight.

But then that dead weight got good at something, and she had refused to allow herself to back down from her self-centered quest. So when someone started to beat her, she became furious and… and… did something she should have never done. No matter how much she had wanted to shrug this guilt away and continue on to the village like she had intended, she just couldn't.

Did Hiccup really deserve all the treatment simply because he couldn't do anything right? Was it right for her to try to keep him in that useless role? No. No, it wasn't. He didn't deserve it. He really was trying at least. That should amount to something, right? Perhaps she had been wrong, though it will be hard for her to admit it. She didn't like to change. She was too stubborn, but she didn't want to keep treating Hiccup the way she had been treating him.

She didn't need to like him, but perhaps she should start listening to her own morals and what her heart said and believed to be right instead of what others thought was right. Perhaps, she should try and stick up for him more, because it would be the right thing to do, wouldn't it? That would be the only reason, right? She didn't like him. Did she? He couldn't be her friend, could he?

Why hadn't she thought of these things before? They seemed so obvious. Had she really been so blind? Why did it take finally going too far to make her realize this?

Astrid was caught up in her thoughts when—

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

She froze with wide eyes.

A scream?! But, no one was out here besides…

Her heart sunk.

"Oh no…"

She jumped with horror when she heard another sound, that sent her heart racing into a panic.

The sound was unmistakably… a dragon.

"HICCUP!"

Astrid sprinted for the cove where he had left him, praying to Odin, Thor, and any other god who would listen that the boy would be okay. He was the chief's son. He was the village screw-up turned dragon-fighting prodigy. He was the boy who she had mistreated. He was the same boy who she _needed_ to apologize to. She had to get to him! She just hoped that his newfound dragon-fighting abilities would keep him alive until she got there.

She heard yelling and more roars, and she yelled his name time and time again, telling him she was on her way.

She reached the cove's entrance and began to slip into the tunnel.

"Hiccup!"

There was a concussive explosion of light and the tunnel began to collapse before she could reach the end.

She heard him shout her name in a panic as she dove back the way she came as a pile of rocks came to fall down right where she had been standing.

She heard him yelling her name and she yelled back at him as she sprang to her feet, adrenaline surging through her as she dashed to the nearest rock and began to climb the rocky slope to the rim of the cove. She was startled for a moment when she heard another ear-splitting roar that seemed to end Hiccup's return calls to her or any sound from him in that regard.

Her heart was gripped in ice cold dread.

Her eyes widened with fear and her efforts doubled to reach the trapped boy. That dragon sounded powerful and had the territorial advantage. If she didn't get to Hiccup soon, he would be…

She couldn't let that happen. She had to redeem herself.

Astrid grunted with determination as she hauled herself up. She grabbed her axe and raced to the edge of the cove, opening her mouth to release another call for Hiccup to see if he was alright, but she was drowned out by a very audible roar as soon as she reached the edge.

In that same moment, a dark mass surged up from within of the cove below so fast that the wind it generated knocked her backward a couple feet.

Astrid cried out in pain as she hit a rock in her fall before sprawling on the ground, eyes directed up where she glimpsed a shadow retreating to the skies before it disappeared into the darkened sky.

She could only gaze in a daze for a moment, dizziness distorting her thoughts and sight, but then a realization struck her and her eyes widened with dread, senses instantly sharpening.

Everything was quiet.

Too quiet.

She slowly got to her feet, gazing at the edge of the cove and gripping her axe with trembling hands.

Why was she so terrified of what was beneath her in the cove?

"H-Hiccup?"

Silence.

She gulped as she felt a prickling sensation sweep over her.

 _Oh gods, please no. Please, please, please be alive…_

She bit her lip as she stopped at the edge and looked down.

It was dark. She couldn't make out much of anything.

"H-H-Hiccup?" She whimpered, the silence unnerving as the dread continued to grow within her.

Astrid took a deep shaky breath.

"I-It's okay. It's okay. He… He's probably just…"

 _…dead…_

"…kn-knocked out. He could need my help, right? Yeah, he is…"

… _dead…_

"... unconscious and needs my help."

 _'Or beyond your help. Too much, too_ late _, Astrid.'_

She gulped at the thought and trembled with dread as she searched for something to lower herself into the cove with.

She found a vine and tied it around a tree before tossing the remaining length of it over the edge. She took another moment to take a breath.

She really didn't want to go down there. She was afraid of what she might find.

Astrid gathered up her courage and slowly began her descent after grabbing hold of the vine with both hands.

When she landed, she was met by more silence. This time it seemed to amplify in the surrounding darkness.

She tried to call out his name again but choked. She gripped her axe until her knuckles were a distinct white. Eyes wide, she was afraid to move.

She shuddered from the feeling in her spine.

"H-Hiccup?" She whispered, hoping and praying for a response.

Silence.

Astrid began to take steps forward, feeling around her for guidance through the darkness.

She stumbled over something on the ground and reached down to find it. Her hand came into contact with a metal object of some sort.

Confused and fearful, she picked it up just as the full moon broke away from behind the clouds to shine its light upon the cove…

Astrid gasped and dropped the dagger as soon as she saw what it was and what it had on the blade.

She fell back onto the ground in shock.

She whimpered as she looked up, heart pounding.

"Hiccup? Hiccup!"

Where was he? Where was he?! Be alive. BE ALIVE!

She turned her head to the side.

Her eyes bulged as fear and panic crashed into her heart and mind, no longer seeping slowly in. She scrambled backward gasping in horror at the sight of the blood smeared rock. Then her hands collided into some sort of wet cloth. She looked around and…

Astrid felt a deep chill and sickness over take her, nausea filling the pit of her stomach with guilt and despair.

She gulped as she shakily picked up the bloodied and ripped tunic, eyes stinging. Her breathing was strained.

She could smell the blood on the cloth as she ran a hand over it before dropping both it and her hands to her lap, hanging her head.

The girl shuddered as she now sat alone in the darkness of the silent cove.

"Gods… Hiccup…" She sobbed softly. Guilt washing over her in waves, burying her in sorrow and despair. "I'm sorry… I-It's all my fault…"

Then she cried. She actually cried. She didn't have the energy to resist the pent-up emotions anymore.

"I'm sorry…"

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

* * *

Twenty-one year-old Astrid woke suddenly to an osprey's cry as it flew overhead. Her sky-blue eyes were met with the first light of morning starting to glow through the forest.

The tree leaves were rustling in the light and gentle breeze that coaxed the land to awake and arise with the birds singing in greeting.

She moaned as she sat up, grimacing from her sore chest and stomach where the gash from the sword crossed her body diagonally. Her blonde hair falling around her shoulders.

"Morning, Astrid."

She turned her head with a tired grin at the brown-haired, green-eyed man stretching his limbs from where he lay, propped up against the still sleeping dragon. He seemed like he had been up for a while hadn't moved from his spot next to Toothless. She saw he had been looking at his sketch journal again as he now closed it.

She gave a yawn as she rubbed her eyes some.

"Hey… sleep well?"

Hiccup gave a sigh and nodded his head as he popped his back, grimacing a bit but then relaxing with relief a short time later.

"For the most part. You?"

Astrid pulled the furs off of her and started to push herself further up. She flashed him a smile as he interlocked his fingers behind his head and relaxed back into Toothless in the cool morning air.

"Better than I have for a long time."

She gave a frustrated huff as she brushed her hair from her face and started to braid it the best she could behind her head.

"Ugh, I have no idea where my kransen went. I swear I was wearing it back on Outcast Island."

Hiccup seemed to jump with a realization.

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me. I think I picked one up. I don't know if it is yours, but if it is, then great. It's in the saddle bag, let me just…"

He tossed away the furs and reached for something at his side.

Astrid breath hitched in her throat, eyes wide, as she froze what she was doing and gaped at him. She blinked with shock and surprise. Was she seeing things?

"H-Hiccup?" Her tone soft and uncertain.

"Hm?" He hummed in response while picking up a metal contraption from beside him.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"W-Where… Wha… How… Where's your leg?!"

Hiccup gave her a confused look at first before his eyes widened with realization and he looked down at his legs… well, _leg_.

"Ohhhh…" He chuckled as he did a facepalm.

He was indeed missing one. Where the bottom half of his left leg was supposed to be, was thin air. It was missing, replaced by a stump a little below the knee.

He gave her an apologetic grin.

"Sorry, I forgot I didn't tell you. I'm not surprised that you didn't notice until now. The prosthetic makes it seem like I still have my leg. I don't limp with it. My baggy leggings and boot hide it pretty well too. I guess I forgot to mention it because I have gotten so used to it." He said, shrugging at her.

Astrid shook her head as she continued to gape at his missing leg.

"Oh my _Gods_ , Hiccup. What happened?" She finally managed to breath out, clearly not expecting that he had been missing a leg this entire time and she hadn't notice. Talk about a wakeup call…

Hiccup gave a sheepish grin as he slipped on the sleeve over the stump and began to attach the prosthetic leg.

"Well, remember what I told you about barely escaping with my life after defeating the queen dragon? Well, me and Toothless kind of fell out of the sky, and Toothless here couldn't grab me with his claws so…"

He shrugged with a grin as if to say it was no big deal.

"Teeth was the only other option. Let's just say, he finally got me back from when I shot off his tailfin since he made a meal out of my leg. So, we're even."

Astrid grimaced at the thought, glancing at the dragon.

"Thor, that must have hurt. I'm sorry."

Hiccup averted his gaze as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, I wouldn't say that. I was actually unconscious at the time, so I didn't feel a thing."

Astrid shook her head.

"Well, I'm still sorry that you lost your leg. Gods, I just wasn't expecting that… You've changed a lot." She gave him a smile as she bent over the cooled embers and pulled a few logs from a small pile of wood nearby to begin setting up a fire.

Hiccup finished tightening the straps to his artificial leg and stood up, not bothering to put his boot on over it.

He gave a growl of annoyance as he shifted his weight on the peg leg.

"Ugh, I can't wait to get my other prosthetic back."

Astrid looked at him curiously as he limped over to the saddle bag. His was balance off since the prosthetic was meant to fit in a boot. The missing inch or so of boot made the man's artificial limb slightly shorter than his remaining real one, making him limp awkwardly.

"You have multiple prosthetics?"

Hiccup rummaged through the bag and called back over his shoulder.

"Well, the one I normally use broke a little over a week ago. I haven't fixed it yet, so I have been wearing my old prosthetic for the time being. I want to rework something on it anyway. Haven't had the time to work on it, but I plan to after I get back home."

Astrid averted her gaze as she felt a twinge of sadness. There he was again, not seeing Berk as his home. It seems he really has found another life, one that has worked in his favor for the past 6 and half years.

She couldn't help but speak her thoughts with a sad tone.

"By 'home' you mean Dale?'"

She heard a heavy sigh and turned to see Hiccup giving her a frown. His eyes glimmered in the morning light.

"Yeah… Dale." He shook his head with another sigh. "I'm sorry, Astrid, but I told you. I can't go back. I've got a new life, new responsibilities. If I go back, what do you think will happen? My father will probably think I betrayed my own kind. Everyone will hate me because I befriended a dragon. And then when I leave again, they know I'm still alive and ride a Night Fury, and they will search for me. Then that can put Dale and the ones I care about there at risk. I can't do that."

Astrid stood up with a sigh. She knew he would say that and couldn't help but think that he was right.

"But don't you think you should at least try to convince your dad and the rest of the tribe? I mean, the Chief's not been the same since you 'died.' He still loves you, Hiccup. Don't you think he deserves to know his son's alive?"

Hiccup muttered something sarcastic under his breath that she didn't catch before heaving a sigh and taking something out of the bag.

"Probably, but he is stubborn. It won't be easy to convince him about dragons. You don't think I haven't tried to persuade him to see things my way before? I have, and he never listened. It's… It's for the best if he thinks of his son as the one who was finally becoming the one he always wanted. The dragon fighter and killer, but..." He shook his head as he turned around and hobbled back towards the fire pit. "I-I just can't, Astrid. Not right now. Probably not ever. People need me in Dale."

Astrid hung her head. Hiccup's tone made it clear that there was no bringing him from his decision, or at least not at the moment. He thinks his father is stubborn. Well, he inherited that trait. It was depressing hearing him talk about Berk in such a negative light. He truly felt like he had nothing there but everything at this Dale place.

"People need you in Berk too, you know."

Hiccup gave a heavy sigh of defeat at that and flopped down upon a log, hanging his head.

"Look, I'm going to be honest with you." He paused and seemed to be debating with himself about something before sighing again in defeat.

"I'm not saying that I will _never_ consider going back to Berk, _ever_. It's just, right now, I don't see the good of returning after what I have accomplished for myself at Dale and with Toothless. The relationships I have made. My friends and… others. I-I just can't throw this life away to go back to my old life. Besides, I don't think I need to tell you how much _fun_ my life was back on Berk."

Astrid bit her lip and hung her head again shamefully as she sat down beside him.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be pressuring you like this. I just… I… I still feel guilty from the way we treated you and thought that maybe if you came back then we can redeem ourselves in some way, but you're right, fat chance of that happening…"

She flinched as she felt a hand gently grip her shoulder. Her mind flashed with the recent memories of abuse, and she wanted to get away as fast as she could. But, she forced herself to stay put. She was glad she did because the longer she let him hold onto her shoulder like that, the more comforting it seemed.

She lifted her head to flash him a smile.

Hiccup grinned and released her shoulder, handing her the kransen, which she noticed was in fact hers.

"I think this is yours?"

She beamed at him as she put it on, feeling more comfortable already. It was the symbol of her still being pure. Without it, she felt naked and tainted after her experience, so to have it back on her head was a relief.

"You found it! Thank you, Hiccup. You don't know how much this means to me."

He nodded with a grin and stood up with an energetic sigh.

"So, are you going to come with me to Dale or am I dropping you off at Berk? Though if I do that, we need to develop a story for you since there will be lots of questions about how you suddenly appeared on Berk out of thin air. So what is it?"

He grinned at her.

Astrid returned it, sitting up straight and gingerly holding her stomach and raising an eyebrow at him.

"I thought I had until noon?"

He rolled his eyes with a sigh and turned away to start packing up things.

"No time like the present, Astrid. Besides, I have someone who's waiting for me back at Dale, and I really need to get back to her."

She raised an eyebrow. '…get back to _her_.' So there was girl or woman. Astrid was reminded of the thoughts she had been thinking the night before… One name…

"Eira?"

The effect was an interesting one.

Hiccup flinched and froze what he was doing as though he realized he may have spoken too much.

"Yeah." He said a bit hesitantly, still turned away and resuming rolling all the furs up into two tight bundles.

Astrid stood up, curious.

"Who is she? She your… girlfriend or something?"

Hiccup seemed to be conflicted about something but turned around to look at her.

" _She_ … is someone very important to me." He sighed. "But that is all I'm telling you. Look, are you coming or not?"

Astrid averted her eyes and mentally scolded herself for being so nosy and letting her growing curiosity get the better of her. She thought about his offer. Last night, it had seemed like such a hard decision to make.

She had been strung between the two options. She wanted to go home. She wanted to feel her parents' embrace. She wanted to show them that she was alright, but there was the issue. She was not alright. She felt broken, haunted from what she had been put through these past days. Perhaps, the only reason she felt safer around Hiccup was because he wasn't as Viking-like as those Outcasts. He was Hiccup.

She struggled to try and choose where she would feel more comfortable, to this Dale place with a bunch of strangers and Hiccup or to Berk with all her family and friends. She didn't know which place she would feel the most comfortable, but… Hiccup.

She didn't know why, but she just felt like she could trust Hiccup with her life and her problems, probably because he _had_ saved her life and seemed to be keen on not pressuring her into speaking about what happened. She had a feeling he already knew. She just felt that if she went to Dale, surrounded by strangers, then he will protect her.

Ha. Imagine that for a moment. She, Astrid, feeling like she needed protection? She really was shaken from her experience, wasn't she? She just felt like Hiccup could provide her with that sense of peace and that much-needed distraction she desired.

So in the end, it was easy to make her decision.

Astrid grinned at him with a sigh.

"I'm coming. I want to see why you haven't returned to Berk after all these years, and besides… I just don't feel ready to go back yet."

Hiccup broke into a wide smile and nudged the sleeping dragon in the side to wake him up and began rushing about to get things packed up as Toothless woke up with a frown from his wonderful sleep.

"Well, okay then. Help me pack up, and then we can have breakfast. Then off to Dale. If all goes well, then we should arrive there by sunset tonight if we take the high winds. We'll stop for lunch too. I think I might cook it beforehand so we can land, eat, and then be off again. Quicker we get to Dale the better. I don't want to arrive in the middle of the night. Before sunset is preferable. Do you want fish or biscuits?..."

Astrid smiled as Hiccup rambled on. He really was a productive guy, thinking through everything down to every detail. She remembered him to be like this back before he left, though he had been creating things that were out of his element, like various mechanical weapons that seemed to backfire on him often. Though apparently, one of them actually worked, and he shot down a Night Fury with it. Regardless, he was a hard worker, something Astrid could respect since she was a hard worker herself, putting in hours upon hours of training and sharpening her skills.

She just wished she had seen these good qualities sooner… like six and a half years sooner.

After they had a quick breakfast, a few fish roasted over the fire (she had been ready for the dragon's fire spitting that time), they packed up the remaining supplies and placed the saddle and tailfin rig upon Toothless, well… Hiccup did that part. Astrid just watched.

By the time everything was done and packed away, ready for the long flight, Astrid's stomach was doing somersaults and backflips from the anxiety that was plaguing her system. This resulted in her not-so calmly waiting for Hiccup to get back from changing into his flight gear.

 _Oh Gods… Oh Gods… I don't think I can do this… I can't do this. Nope, I can't do this. Flying. Haha! Nope! Ohhh… there has to be another way_. _This is crazy._

She was wringing her hands anxiously as she paced quickly back and forth.

Flying! She was very uncharacteristically nervous about this. She, Fearless Astrid Hofferson, was admittingly afraid of flying upon a dragon, though she only had admitted it to herself so far. She tried not to give Hiccup the satisfaction of seeing her so unconfident. It was a rare. She had always been confident of herself, but again, her experiences over the past days had challenged that confidence head on. She won't recover from something so traumatic for a while yet. However, she also felt genuine anxiety about flying upon Toothless that was not brought about by the horrors she faced.

From what she gathered from Hiccup's talk about flying, a ride aboard Toothless was intense, even by dragon standards. Apparently, the dragon was pretty much the fastest there was.

What had she gotten herself into?

She heard a voice call to her from behind.

"You ready?"

Astrid spun around to say 'yes' even though her mind was screaming 'NO!' However, she was struck speechless when she took notice of what Hiccup now wore.

 _Of Freya, why do you do this to me…_

He looked dazzling. He wore black, closefitting armor, helmet under one arm. There were red markings on his shoulder pads to compliment the red tunic that he wore underneath. The whole attire had an aerodynamic quality about it, and she realized that it had been made with fast flights in mind.

She also realized that she must have been staring for too long, admiring how _hot_ he looked in that armor, because Hiccup suddenly waved his hand to get her attention.

"Midgard to Astrid? Hello, welcome back, Milady. Have a nice trip to Daydreamheim?" He smirked at her blush and glare before looking at her seriously. "So, are you?"

Astrid blinked.

"Uh, what?"

Hiccup raised his eyebrows with a grin.

"Are you or aren't you ready, Astrid?"

Astrid took a breath, shaking her head free of any lingering thoughts about Hiccup's armor or what lay beneath it and gave him what she hoped wasn't a nervous grin.

"Yep."

 _Nope._

Hiccup smiled at her, sending her a knowing smile.

"You're nervous, aren't you?"

Astrid averted her gaze.

"No."

 _Yes._

He shook his head with a grin and climbed atop the awaiting Night Fury. Toothless seemed anxious after being kept from flying for longer than a day. He was giving them both a look that clearly portrayed his annoyance and eagerness.

Hiccup held out a hand to the frozen woman on the ground below him.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Astrid."

 _Right, like flying thousands of feet on a fire breathing beast isn't something to be afraid of._

Astrid took a deep breath and found it within herself to smack away his hand in defiance. She could to do this herself…

But, she didn't miss Hiccup's knowing grin when she had smacked away his hand, and her ears flushed accordingly. She threw her leg over the saddle and sat behind him.

She felt her blush deepen. She was so close to him now.

She could smell the scent of timeless times of flying through the salty winds over the sea but also a smell of smoke and sweat. Did he still work in a forge?

With his back to her, she could clearly see that his shoulders and back muscles were more defined, not as much as your typical Viking but a far cry from the weak form he used to have. She still was finding it hard to believe that this was the same boy that everyone had referred to as a fishbone, her included.

Hiccup had been adjusting something on Toothless' side, all the while quieting the eager dragon who was practically itching to be in the air, but now turned to Astrid at a moment when she had been wringing her hands.

"I believe we are ready for takeoff. You ready?"

Astrid nodded hesitantly. Truth be told, she was nervous, and on instinct, when Hiccup turned back around, she had instantly wrapped her arms around him.

But, Hiccup tensed, and she quickly retracted them, eyes wide and blushing hard.

Astrid quickly uttered an apology.

"Sorry, sorry! That was awkward. I shouldn't have done that."

Hiccup shook his head slowly.

"Uh, no, no, I-It's fine. I just wasn't ready for it. It's been awhile since anyone has flown with me." He turned to her with a smile, an odd look in his eyes. "If it makes you comfortable, I-I'll tolerate it the best I can."

Astrid buzzed with questions. What did he mean by that? Was he uncomfortable with her placing her arms around him? She shook the thoughts from her mind, replacing her arms around him.

Hiccup glanced at her, feeling her breath and heartrate quicken. He grinned compassionately at her, something she didn't see, and leaned over to whisper in Toothless' ear.

The reptile gave a quick nod with a snort as he spread his leathery wings to stretch them once more, standing up from the ground.

Astrid gulped a bit when she felt the reptile shift beneath her as he stood and stretched.

 _This is it. I don't know why I'm doing this. Flying. Oh Freya, help me…_

She heard Hiccup tell her to hold on as Toothless took to the air, and she squeezed her eyes closed.

She felt the jolt as the reptile leapt from the hard ground and begin to beat his wings.

"Open your eyes, Astrid. Trust me. It will be better if you just open them now so that you can adjust to being in the air at low altitude first."

Astrid reluctantly listened but flinched when she saw that they were passing over the treetops.

"Oh Thor, we're flying…" She gulped, feeling panic well up inside her.

Hiccup laughed a bit.

"It's okay, Astrid. Just relax. You are not going to fall, and _if_ you do—and that is a _big_ _if_ —we'll catch you."

She scowled at him.

"I'm not afraid." Then her expression softened as she glanced downward. "I-I just… I'm just not used to this. Nervous, that's all."

"Never said you were afraid. Just relax." He smiled over his shoulder as they glided over the treetops of the forested island and towards the ocean. He gestured with his hand at the landscape. "Enjoy the view. Don't worry about falling. You just got to stop thinking about the possibilities, Astrid, and just enjoy yourself.

Astrid sighed and forced her muscles to relax, sitting up slightly, but not daring to remove her arms from around Hiccup.

 _Maybe he's right. I'm getting too worried about this. After all, he did this when he was a clumsy teenager and survived. Why couldn't I?_

She looked around her. She had to admit that seeing the forest and the rest of the landscape from a bird's eye view— or rather a dragon's eye view— was exciting. She grinned a bit as she looked around her, though still nervously.

"Okay, so maybe this isn't so bad."

Hiccup made eye contact from over his shoulder and grinned also.

"See. You like it. It makes no difference how high you are, this feeling will remain the same. But this isn't _flying_ this is gliding. I told Toothless to take it slow so that you can adjust, but…" He trailed off as he narrowed his eyes behind them and frowned. "We got company."

Astrid spun her head around to see a few ships making their way towards them. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the emblem on the sails.

Berk.

They must be out looking for her, but she didn't want to be found! Not yet!

"H-Hiccup…"

She already felt Toothless accelerating as the dragon pumped his wings harder before Hiccup answered.

"Astrid, are you absolutely, one hundred percent sure that you want to go with me to Dale? Cause I can loop back around and drop you off right here, right now, for them to find you."

She shook her head, still looking at the ships.

"I-I'm not ready to go back. Have they seen us?"

Hiccup turned forward again, leaning down.

"I hope not. Hang on, Astrid. Hit it, bud!"

The Night Fury growled in acknowledgement before he unexpectedly surged ahead with a terrifying burst of speed.

Astrid bit back a scream as she felt her body lurch in the saddle from the sudden change in pace.

How fast was this dragon?

Toothless continued to accelerate before suddenly pulling up and rocketing into the sky, spinning while he did so.

Astrid caught a glimpse of the world below them. She wished she hadn't.

She tensed up as she saw how high they were, heart racing with anxiety and fear now.

Just as suddenly as they had turned upward, they now leveled off just below the clouds, resuming their glide.

Hiccup looked back at ships, now specks on the ocean far below and behind them.

"Wow. I did _not_ expect them to be out here… though I should have known they would be searching for you." He looked at her as she sat back up, though not relaxing her grip this time. "You okay?"

Astrid took a breath, eyes closed.

"I'm not sure I like flying."

Hiccup laughed but then stopped.

"Astrid?"

"Hm?" She hummed in response, her eyes still closed.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'm going to tell you to do something, but don't freak out. Okay? Just open your eyes and look down."

"Hiccup, are you crazy?! I'm not going to look down!"

"You told me you trusted me, and believe me when I say that this will help you. Look down."

Astrid shook her head, keeping her eyes closed.

"Hiccup… I _really_ don't want to..."

"Trust me, Astrid."

She bit her lip at his voice. Why was she so drawn to it?

"Why should I open my eyes?"

"For one, you can't keep your eyes closed the entire trip."

"Watch me."

Hiccup grinned at that snarky comment.

 _There's the old Astrid._

"Secondly, Milady, it will help you get over your fear of heights."

"I don't have a fear of heights!" She snapped.

Hiccup smirked at her, though she didn't see it.

"Mhm, sure. So that's why you're keeping your eyes closed then?"

Astrid hummed in frustration and anxiety, slowly opening her eyes to meet Hiccup's expectant gaze. He grinned at her and nodded his head downward.

She shot him a quick glare before reluctantly looking down. Her stomach twisted into a knot it as her heart skipped unevenly at the dizzying sight of the ocean far far _far_ below her.

Thor almighty, they were high.

"Oh gods…" She complained and moaned, tearing her eyes from the sight below and burying her face into the man's back in an effort to stop her head spinning.

Was it just her, or did it feel like she was rising higher and she felt moist now.

"It's alright, Astrid. _Now,_ open your eyes."

"I don't want to. I'm not going to. Hiccup, I am probably going to kill you for making me do that, the last time." She spoke into his back, arms wrapped tight around him and not showing any signs of relaxing.

"Astrid… I think you'll want to see this. Trust me."

She growled in frustration. There was that phrase again. 'Trust me.' Trust. Trust Hiccup. Trust the man she just learned last night was the same boy she thought was eaten by a dragon. Trust him. Trust the one who hid from his village and father for more than six years. Trust. Trust the one who rides a Night Fury. Trust the one who was perfectly content with allowing his father to dwell in grief. Trust the man who led everyone astray into thinking he was dead. Trust the man who had grown to be a stranger to her these past six years.

And yet, she still trusted him.

Astrid sighed and reluctantly opened her eyes a smidgeon again, expecting to see more dizzying visuals and worlds far below her.

But…

She blinked in surprise and opened her eyes fully, sitting up in the saddle.

"Oh…" She breathed.

All around her, for as far as the eye can see, was a world of white mountains of clouds. Below her and to her sides. Above her was the big blue sky, with the sun behind them on the eastern part of the sky coloring in the white with a yellowish glow, creating shifting shadows and light as the clouds sailed upon the high-altitude winds changing in their shapes and sizes.

It was like she had entered another world, and she was stunned breathless by the sight.

Astrid blinked again with a grin.

"Wow, okay. I didn't expect this. Are we… Are we above the clouds or something?"

Hiccup smiled at her and nodded.

"We are. Welcome to the high-flying realm of the dragons. Even the birds don't come this high."

She hummed in confirmation, but she was more focused on the cloud beside them. She stuck out a hand and was mildly surprised to see it disappear into it. She smiled as she felt her hand become as wet as if she had put it into a pool of cool water. She brought it back out and looked at it, flexing her fingers as the water droplets trailed off them.

Cool.

She felt oddly relaxed now as she looked back at Hiccup, who was giving her a knowing gaze and smirk.

She rolled her eyes.

"Alright, I admit. This is pretty cool." She looked back at the surrounding clouds in awe. "It's amazing."

Then she spotted Toothless' glances back at her. His reptilian eyes widened a bit before he snapped his head forward with a huff.

Astrid grinned and leaned over to pat his side.

"He's amazing."

Toothless glanced back to give a satisfied warble.

Hiccup smiled before gesturing to the world around them.

"We probably shouldn't stay up here for too long. The air is thin up here. I'm used to it, but you're not. Just let me know when you are feeling lightheaded, dizzy, or out of breath. Okay?"

Astrid nodded as she refocused on the clouds around her. It was bizarre how all this had been high above her head for all her life. She had been missing out on the wonders and sights of the world above. She also couldn't help but wonder what could have been different if Hiccup hadn't left. Could she have seen all this then? Not that she was blaming him for leaving, of course. She blamed herself for that.

The woman shook her head free of those thoughts and sighed contently.

She enjoyed the experience. She paid particular interest to the surrounding clouds, wanting to touch and pass her hand through each of them.

It wasn't much longer before Hiccup decided that they had stayed up there for long enough.

"Okay, so, do you want to do the _boring_ gradual descent, or do _you_ want to get a taste about what it means to be a dragon rider?"

Astrid raised her eyebrows, certain but uncertain. She should go with the gradual descent, right? She _is_ new to this whole flying upon a dragon thing, but a part of her was curious. Perhaps it was the part of her she thought she had lost a while ago, the stubborn and fearless side of her that sees a challenge in the smallest of things. Wait… Was Hiccup challenging her?

 _'Do you want to do the_ boring _gradual descent, or do_ you _want to get a taste about what it means to be a dragon rider?'_

Emphasis on:

'Boring…'

'Or do _you_ …'

Oh, that tone too…

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you challenging me, Dragon Boy?"

He rolled his eyes at her and counted his fingers with a raised eyebrow at her, dark brown hair ruffling in the wind.

"Okay, first off, I'm not a boy anymore, and secondly, if you can't handle it…" He trailed off with a taunting tone as he smirked and turned away to face forward again.

Astrid glared at the back of his head, before locking her arms around his stomach.

"Oh, okay. That's how it's going to be? Bring it on!"

She felt him chuckle as he leaned forward. He didn't bother turning around when he responded.

"Oh, Astrid, Astrid, you have _no_ idea how bad I wanted to hear you say that. What do you think, bud? Take it easy on her?"

Toothless snorted, pumping his wings faster and harder, gaining even more height and speed.

Hiccup laughed.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. Hold on tight, Astrid. And let me just make it clear that _you_ asked for this."

Astrid was so sure about this when she took the challenge, but now… not so sure. She was getting frustrated with him delaying and lifted her head to snap at him.

"Asked for wha—AHHHH!"

Toothless tucked in his wings without warning and flipped back, leaving his riders upside down for a moment before straightening himself into a heart-dropping, stomach-lurching, high-speed plummet. Angle: straight down.

Astrid's eyes widened as the clouds raced up towards them, or was it them racing down towards the clouds?! She didn't know anymore! All she knew was that she had left her breath behind her and her heart was threatening to launch from her chest.

 _"OH GREAT ODIN'S GHOST!"_ She yelled.

They tore through the clouds, the moisture whipping into her face. She glimpsed a peculiar sight. The clouds seemed to be parting along Toothless' wings and snout, not even touching the reptile's body, but she had no time to watch further as they broke past the clouds and she saw the sea far below them.

Then she heard Hiccup yell something absurd.

"ASTRID, LET GO OF ME!"

"WHAT?!"

"JUST DO IT!"

She growled in fear and frustration as she complied but soon gasped in fear as he… slipped off the saddle?! What the Hel was he doing?!

"HICCUP!"

He only laughed as he held onto metal bar at the front of the saddle as he flipped over in the air next to her and smirked back at her.

"HEY, ASTRID!" He called over the roar of air pushing past them in the rapid freefall.

She glared at him with horror and anger.

"HICCUP, THIS IS NOT FUNNY! GET BACK ON THIS SADDLE, NOW!"

He let go of the saddle and crossed his arms, still falling beside her. He gave her a mock look of defiance, while Astrid's heart stopped at the sight of him free falling without any connection to her or the dragon that _couldn't_ fly without him.

"NO!"

She glared at him with disbelief, eyes snapping back and forth between him and the rapidly approaching sea below.

"H-HICCUP!"

He seemed to yawn and made a show about putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

Astrid jaw dropped and looked back at the ocean again in horror.

"HICCUP HADDOCK, WILL YOU PLEASE GET BACK ON THIS SADDLE BEFORE WE CRASH INTO THE SEA!"

Hiccup only grinned at her complaints, his face perfectly relaxed as he let his arms fall back to his side.

Astrid looked at him again, but this time with curiosity welling up underneath the horror and anxiety. He looked so peaceful, no care, no worry, just enjoying the wind whipping through his hair. Did he do these suicidal dives often?

She was snapped out of her thoughts that she didn't realize she had gotten herself lost to by Toothless barking something and stared back at the sea. Her eyes widened even further as she gripped onto the edges of the saddle with both hands. The sea seemed so close now.

She wanted to scream at Hiccup, but she didn't need to. As soon as the dragon barked, Hiccup immediately flipped over and rolled back in front of Astrid and onto the saddle. She promptly locked her arms around him again.

But they didn't pull out of the dive, and Astrid's heart pounded. With each heartbeat, she could see more and more detail of the ocean below her— in front of her. Each wave. Each discoloration. The white foam on some of the waves.

"H-HIC—" She was cut short as Toothless' wings opened slightly, and they pulled out of the dive without slowing down.

Soon they were racing along the tops of the waves, kicking up a trail of spray behind them as Toothless streamlined wings brought their tips to just above the surface of the water.

Astrid finally took a breath, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

"What was _that_ about?! Do you _want_ to die?!"

Hiccup laughed and glanced back over his shoulder but kept his body low to the saddle.

"You wanted me to show you a taste of what it means to be a dragon rider. That's what I did."

Astrid glared at him with disbelief.

"By jumping off the saddle and praying you will get back on it in time before you go splat?!" She snapped.

Hiccup shook his head with a grin as they pulled back into the sky to a reasonable gliding height and speed. He sat back up with a sigh and looked back at her.

"Look, I get that you think it was totally crazy and idiotic and probably suicidal for me to do the whole freefall trick."

Astrid harrumphed and folded her arms across her chest, fixing him with a glare. "No, really?" She mocked, her sarcasm soaking through her tone.

Hiccup ignored her and continued.

"But, I wasn't in any danger. Neither were you. I knew that I would be able to get on the saddle in time because I had Toothless watching out for me. You see. Dragon riding is not simply someone picking out a dragon, mounting them, and telling them where to go. Riding a dragon requires the rider and dragon to be in sync with each other, to work together, to understand each other, to know what the other wants before they even say it. That's what it's like with me and Toothless. When I jump off the saddle, I don't have to worry about how far I am from the ground. That's his job. He tells me when we are getting close, and I get back onto the saddle with time to spare. It's as easy as that."

Astrid just looked at the grinning man with disbelief but with less malice. She sighed, relaxing her arms and staring off to the side.

"Okay, when you put it like that, I understand, but…"

She suddenly punched him in the arm with a growl, making him yelp with pain and recoil away from her slightly.

"That's for not warning me what you were about to do!"

Her gaze softened as she threw her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. She sighed before pulling away, grinning at the stunned look on his face.

"And that's for everything else." She blushed slightly. Hiccup grinned as she continued." _Everything._ For saving me and taking care of me and showing me what it's like above the clouds. Everything. You're different from the boy you were six years ago… or maybe you're the same and I just never noticed these things about you before."

Hiccup's grin faltered as he turned to gaze forward again, eyes having a faraway haunted look.

"No, I'm not the same…" He spoke softly.

Astrid's own grin slipped from her face, eyebrows knitting together in confusion and concerned curiosity. She wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but she could tell he probably didn't want to talk about it.

He didn't like to talk about a lot of things it seemed…

What happened to him? He says his life is better, but it must not have been as cheerful as he had painted it if he was acting this way.

Hiccup inhaled sharply and shook away his reverie with a grin.

"Just sit back and relax, Astrid. We'll make a stop for lunch in a while on Itchy Armpit."

Astrid cocked her head in confusion.

"Itchy Arm—What?"

He laughed and looked back at her with a grin.

"It's just an island I named during the time I was on my own after Berk. I decided to start adding onto the map I already had. Didn't think too much on the name." He chuckled again. "I just saw Toothless scratching his armpit and so, wa la, Itchy Armpit!"

Astrid face palmed with a snort of laughter. She really hoped that he didn't name all the places that way, but if he did, she would like to hear about them.

"That's bad, Hiccup. Even for Vikings."

Hiccup smiled.

"Yeah, I know, right? Anyways, we got a few hours of flying ahead of us before lunch. Anything you want to talk about?"

Astrid's mind immediately lit up with questions she wanted to ask him, things she wanted to know more about, Eira, whether or not he had a girlfriend, where did he get those scars, but she quickly forced them from her mind. She didn't want to tread on an uncomfortable topic and make the rest of the flight awkward for the both of them.

So, she picked the only topic that she knew he would be willing to talk about as much as she wanted to listen.

"Um, how about dragons? I mean, you got me in the air on one's back, so I might as well get to know about them more, seeing as everything I knew about them before was wrong."

Hiccup grinned, raising an eyebrow.

"What would you like to know?

* * *

 ** _Roughly six and a quarter years ago_**

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless were flying high above the ocean, with the sun beaming down overhead. The boy had his eyes closed, and was enjoying the feeling of the wind rustling his hair as he felt he subtle flight adjustments of the dragon below him.

It had been about two and a half months after they had fled Berk after that oh most wonderful series of coincidences that led to the boy's 'death.' Hiccup was pretty sure that he accidently faked his death. He was sure that Astrid hadn't seen him on Toothless. It had been dark, and they had been moving fast. He was also sure that his little mistake with his dagger, that accidental slicing of his hand and smearing his blood all over his tunic, made it looked like he had been mauled by a beast, not to mention he happened to rip that same shirt. And then, Toothless was roaring his dragon vocal cords out, letting everyone everywhere know that there was a dragon nearby. Hiccup had also yelled out a few times as well. It was all one huge misunderstanding.

Now though, Hiccup was almost glad it happened that way. At least, no one would be looking for him. He could go where he wanted without worrying anyone would be trying to track him down. He was imbued with a sense of freedom and relief. Now, he and Toothless could spend untold hours in the air without needing to be back by a certain time so as to not raised too much suspicion.

He was free.

That's what flying meant for him. It was an escape. Whenever he was in the air like this, he felt at peace. For the past two and a half months, he and Toothless had been roaming around the archipelago, going when and where they pleased. If they wanted to go far east, they would go far east, which they did. They took a couple days exploring the coastline of the main land. If they wanted to take a look at the lands to the south, they would travel to the south, which they also did. They had done a flyover of some of the cities towards the south. The Romans were interesting people. Hiccup had seen a series of contraptions that had sparked his curiosity, but he could only speculate how they functioned and what they were used for. He knew better than to go to a Roman inhabited city and just walk around. From what he heard, his people could be considered as slaves, so he stayed away from landing anywhere near those cities.

If they wanted to go north, they would go north, something they were in the process of doing now.

Hiccup knew they couldn't keep roaming around like this forever. Sooner or later, he would have to settle down somewhere, either by himself or somewhere where people were more openminded and willing to listen. That's all he wanted, for people to just listen and at least consider what he had to say instead of the stubborn bullheadedness that his father and tribe were champions of.

After they had left Berk that night, Toothless took Hiccup to this volcanic island. The boy had wondered where the dragon was going, but soon found out that he was taking him to the dragon's nest. What he saw both terrified and awed him. The dragon queen had been massive. He was now glad that his dad could never make it to the nest itself, cause if he ever did, then he and everyone he brought with him would surely die.

Hiccup now understood why dragons had been raiding villages. Up until then, he had been bothered by the lack of reasons why, but now he knew why and understood. He was a bit worried that someone would find the nest and launch a suicidal attack on it, which would indeed be suicidal. That monster colossus would kill anyone and everyone that it faced without receiving any injuries in return. He knew that he and Toothless were probably the only ones who stood a chance against it. He knew that he would have to face that beast sometime.

Beast.

He had no problems calling a dragon like that a beast and monster because of what he saw. It was a cannibal. It ate other dragons and was a tyrant, and like all tyrants, it must be stopped.

But, that could wait for another time when he had some sort of plan and was better equipped to handle such an attack. Right now, he was just enjoying his new life without restrictions or anyone to bring him down.

Hiccup grinned and opened his eyes, returning his attention back to the world ahead of them. He leaned over to look down at Toothless.

"You almost ready for a break, bud?"

Toothless nodded with a warble.

Hiccup patted the reptile's neck and sat back up, searching for an island to land on.

They were a couple of hours to the north of Berk, though Hiccup didn't want to think about that place. He was ready to put that part of his life behind him.

They were headed in the direction that was bound to take them into unknown territory. In fact, Hiccup had been adding to the map he brought along, carefully attaching new pieces of paper to the point where the map seemed to keep going on and on when he unfolded it.

The island they decided on was not one that was on the map.

Hiccup slid off the saddle when they landed and looked around.

His eyebrows were raised in pleasant surprise.

"Wow. What do you think, bud? Isn't this a nice place? It's so…" He looked at the sparkling lake down the hill where they landed. The trees of the forest next to him seemed to sway in a lazy manner. In fact, everywhere he looked, he got a sense of tranquility and beauty. The grass swayed, untamed and free. The lake was especially inviting and attractive to the eye.

He grinned before concluding. "… peaceful."

Taking another moment to enjoy the landscape as Toothless also took a quick look around before busying himself with cleaning his paw, Hiccup reached into the pocket of his vest and took out the map and began to unfold it on the ground. He had covered a lot of territory in the past month and charted all of it as best as he could.

Hiccup trailed his finger over to the spot where they were supposed to be located on the map and grinned. He would need more paper soon if he were to continue charting out this direction on the map. He took out his charcoal stick to begin lightly sketching a temporary outline of the island from memory. He would spend some time making sure he got the dimensions right later.

"Alright, bud, what should we name it?"

Glancing back at Toothless, Hiccup grinned and rolled his eyes, looking back at the map.

"Itchy Armpit it is then."

The reptile had been in the middle of scratching under his foreleg, but now froze and looked back at the boy with a warble.

Hiccup ignored him and filled in the name and location on the map as Toothless wandered over to plop down beside him.

The teen finally leaned back with a content sigh, looking at the map and grinning at his accomplishment. The map was far larger than anyone his dad had, and he was willing to bet that this was one of the largest maps, if not the largest, in the archipelago. All done in a relatively short amount of time too.

He stowed away his charcoal stick with a smirk.

 _Beat that Vikings. The benefits of having a dragon to ride…_

Hiccup chuckled as he refolded the map and returned it to his vest pocket. He gave a yawn as he stretched his limbs, falling backward into Toothless' side.

The dragon followed his example and laid down, eyes fixed on his rider and friend.

Hiccup smiled at him, scratching behind his ear flap.

"So, where to from here, bud? We could go north still. We could go back east too, but we've already been out that way. Hm… How about we compromise and go northeast and see where that takes us? How about that, huh? I wonder what's out that way."

He gazed off in that direction while Toothless grew bored of watching him daydream about what lies ahead and shut his eyes for a little bit of rest and relaxation before they took off again.

Hiccup grinned at him and soon followed his example, laying back upon the soft grass and feeling perfectly relaxed in the tranquil atmosphere of the island and thinking about what lies to the northeast.

Probably a couple of new islands. A small colony of dragons perhaps? Or maybe a village or two.

Regardless, it could wait until he got some rest.

He breathed deeply, contently, and let sleep overtake him.

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

* * *

Astrid and Hiccup pitched forward slightly as they touched down on the island that Hiccup had called Itchy Armpit. She didn't know what she had expected. The name had not revealed many good mental images of the place, but now that she saw it…

Her jaw dropped.

"Wow…" She breathed. " _This_ is Itchy Armpit?"

Hiccup laughed as he slid off the dragon and lent hand to help her down.

"Yep."

Astrid would have refused the help like she had when she had been getting on Toothless, but she wasn't used to the long flights upon a dragon and so was a bit off balance and wobbly when she got off. She gratefully took his hand to steady herself as she hopped down from the Night Fury's saddle and looked around at the beautiful landscape.

She was stunned. She was struck by how peaceful it was. There was no evidence of past habitation by Vikings. The island was untouched and unblemished.

Hiccup grinned as he came to stand beside her as she looked out over the crystal lake.

"You like it?"

Astrid nodded, still gazing with wonder at the landscape.

"It's beautiful. I think it needs a better name than Itchy Armpit."

Hiccup grinned, shrugging.

"Well, it goes by a different name also. Kelda Isle…" He said dreamily, gazing out at the lake.

He quickly turned towards the saddle on the stretching dragon, who was wasting no time in catching a nap.

Astrid cocked her head at him curiously.

"Kelda Isle, huh? Why's that?"

Hiccup shrugged slightly, turned away.

"Oh, uh, just… something… that the people of Dale call it." He said but not turning around to face her as he busied himself extracting their lunches from the saddlebag.

Astrid hummed with understanding, missing the deep inhale from the man as he turned around.

He nudged her with her already cooked fish to get her attention.

Astrid smiled and gratefully accepted the fish as they both sat down on the soft grass to eat.

Hiccup sighed as he lay back, propped up on one of his elbows while he ate the fish with his other hand. He gazed out at the lake again.

"We should get to Dale around sundown tonight, might even get there before. We're making good time." He stated as he took a bite out of his fish.

Astrid swallowed and looked at him.

"So, this Dale place. Tell me about it."

Hiccup shrugged and looked back at her with those forest green eyes of his. He grinned.

"It is your typical Viking village really… well, sort of. Its small, no more than fifty members in the tribe, the Mistkeepers tribe by the way. I guess I'm technically a part of them now, come to think of it. They like to stay secluded from the rest of the tribes, more peaceful than your average Viking…" He grinned at her with a wink. "But don't let that fool you. They know how to fight and will fight when it is necessary. The village is different obviously because of the peace they made with dragons. I mean, I am really the only fulltime dragon rider, but Vikings and dragons alike live in the village. You'll see. Though, there aren't that many dragons, only about seven in the entire village excluding Toothless." He raised his hand and began to count his fingers as he narrowed his eyes in thought. "Three Terrible Terrors. Two Gronkles. One Deadly Nadder. And one adolescent Monstrous Nightmare. Other dragons come and go, including a few that I bet you have never seen before." He smiled at her.

Astrid tossed away the remains of her fish and wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve, watching him with interest.

"So, everyone just welcomed dragons with open arms? Just like that?"

Hiccup shook his head, finishing his own fish.

"No, they didn't at first, but then over time, some started to show interest. Again, it helps when you save the chief's daughter." He chuckled.

Astrid smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"Saved her, huh? Do you just make it a habit for saving damsels in distress?"

Hiccup laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I guess. So, want to get going again? You up for more flying, bud?"

Toothless raised his head with a warble, giving a gummy smile and spreading his wings to demonstrate his answer.

Hiccup looked back at Astrid, raising his eyebrow.

"You ready? The sooner we get there, the better. I want to get there when everyone is still awake so I can figure out where you can sleep."

She panicked a bit on the inside.

Sleep in a stranger's house! She isn't going to stay with Hiccup?! Strangers surrounding her, forcing her to…

"Hey, Astrid? You okay?"

The blonde woman snapped back to reality with a sharp inhale, shuddering from her worrying thoughts. She gazed into the concerned but knowing eyes of Hiccup.

 _Damn it. Why do I have to be so freaked over such a little thing?_

He laid a hand gently on her shoulder.

"You are going to be fine, Astrid. I bet Marge would be happy to give you a room at her place. You'll like her. Strong, bossy, fiery Viking woman whose tone and attitude can change with the wind. Sound familiar?" He grinned and nodded his head suggestively.

 _Oh, he didn't just suggest that._

Astrid glared at him under a raised eyebrow as she stood up with him, the panic she had felt no longer existent.

"What do you mean, Hiccup? I am not bossy!"

He gave his really-you're-going-to-say-that look with a grin.

She hated that look, that grin. How dare he suggest that? But then again…

She tried to hold back a grin of her own.

Okay so, maybe, just maybe, he had a point.

She groaned with frustration, grin breaking across her face.

"Okay, fine. I'm a _little_ bossy sometimes… but I've gotten better." She added with a nod.

Hiccup chuckled and waved his hand in dismissal.

"Alright, I believe you. Let's get going. We got a lot of ground to cover before sunset."

Astrid felt the corners of her mouth upturning as she spoke out on impulse.

"Now, look who's the bossy one."

They just looked at each other for a moment before both broke out laughing.

Astrid held onto her stomach, where her stitches along her wound were aching a bit from her laughing

Hiccup was the first to get over his mirth.

"Haha… uh okay, what do you want to do? I'm leaving. You can come if you want, but I understand if you want to be stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere." He smirked at her as he mounted Toothless.

Astrid stifled the last of her laughter and placed her hands on her hips, glaring up at him but with a smile.

"Oh, okay. Is that how you treat all the women you come across? Leave them on an island somewhere for them to fend for themselves?"

"No, just the bossy ones, Milady." He teased, grinning and patting the space in the saddle behind him.

Astrid hung her head with a smile at the tease.

That tease. _That_ tease. What was it about that tease that got her feeling so wonderful and as light as a feather? And what was with this nickname? 'Milady'? It sent fluttery feelings in her chest. If she didn't know better, she would be kissing him about now, though she never really kissed anyone before. She wouldn't, regardless. She just met him yesterday, well… she knew him before then, but it had been so long that he practically was a different person now. However, she still couldn't ignore the way that he was making her feel right now.

She shook her head, blushing a bit while she climbed up onto the saddle.

She wrapped her arms around him again and sighed contently as Hiccup directed Toothless into the air.

"Thank you, Hiccup."

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder as they gained altitude and he set them in a northeast heading again.

"For what?"

Astrid looked sincerely into his green eyes.

"For making me feel better than I have for a long time. I don't remember the last time I felt so relaxed and…"

"Free." He suggested.

She smiled and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, free."

Hiccup's grin faded as he looked back at the woman behind him, her braided hair was fluttering in the wind.

"Did you really cry for me when I… you know… when I died?"

Astrid's smile disappeared as she rested her head on his shoulder, nodding. She really hoped that it wouldn't be brought up again, but since he already knew the answer and was more or less asking the question to satisfy his own disbelief, she might as well answer truthfully.

"Yes…" She whispered, feeling awkward that she was admitting it again and that he was taking an interest in it.

He frowned. There was a moment of shared silence between them before he spoke up again.

"Astrid, how long have you felt that guilt? Has it been this entire time?"

Astrid sighed.

"Hiccup, don't worry—"

"Astrid, please. How long has that guilt been eating you up inside?"

She bit her lip in silence. Why was he asking this? Why would it matter? She sighed as she answered.

"Ever since that night. The past six years, I guess. Never got over it until now."

Astrid grit her teeth.

It was true. She never really got over it until last night. There were times when the guilt was greater at times and lesser at others, but it was always there. It was always in the back of her mind, shaping her decisions.

Guilt.

It was a burden that had been weighing upon her shoulders for the past six and a half years.

Hiccup sighed, catching Astrid's attention as she sat up to look at him. He glanced at her with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry. I know what it feels like to carry around a burden like that."

Astrid was curious.

"You felt guilty like that before?"

He shook his head.

"No, not guilt…" He trailed off, looking forward before speaking hesitantly. "Anger."

Astrid looked away, biting her lip and blushing in shame. Memories from years ago resurfacing in her mind. Hiccup's anger was not surprising.

"I know." She whispered.

Hiccup looked back at her in confusion.

"You know?"

Astrid closed her eyes with a sigh, squirming around in her seat with unease.

 _Should I tell him? He should know, but… Gods, this is so awkward. Might as well tell him, but… Ohhh, please don't hate me…_

She bit her lip and looked him in the eye.

"Yeah. I-I…" She hung her head and took a breath. "Hiccup, I found your stash of journals."

Astrid looked up at him to see him looking at her in stunned silence, mouth hanging agape slightly.

"You… what?" He asked softly.

The woman hugged him tighter, closing her eyes and pressing her head against him.

"I'm sorry, Hiccup. I'm so so sorry. After you left and everyone thought you died, I s-started to go through your things. I… I tried to get to know you more after what I did to you, and I… I think I learned too much…"

* * *

 ** _Six and a half years earlier_**

* * *

It had been nearly a week and a half since a horrified and stunned Astrid had been found by a search party, stumbling around in the forest after her parents had reported that she had not shown up for dinner and no one had seen her for a while. She had been missing for four days since the death of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the second of the Haddocks to be taken and eaten by dragons.

Stoick the Vast was distraught but the resolve of the man held by a thread, and he still was able to perform the basic chief functions, though barely.

The rest of the village took it as a shock but were already beginning to recover.

Soon people were saying things like.

"Eh, he was a fishbone anyways."

"He got lucky in the ring."

"Fun while it lasted."

"Should have known that he wasn't _that_ good at killin dragons if he goes and gets killed by one."

"Poor lad. Oh, well. Wasn't like he was goin to be chief material anyways."

The only people who seemed to be having any feelings for the boy were his father, Gobber, Fishlegs somewhat through shocked silence, and surprisingly Astrid.

Everyone knew that she had been the one to discover what happen and figured that, once the shock was gone, she would return to her normal self after a couple days, but that same teen was now sitting in the backroom of the forge in silence, gazing around at the sketches and blueprints, and bits and bobs of unfinished mechanisms that she didn't understand.

All she understood was that this was where Hiccup was at his best. That bright mind of his had a knack for inventing and tinkering.

Astrid picked up a leathery object that seemed to spread out into some sort of fan. It was an odd piece of equipment. She wondered what it was going to be for. It reminded her of a fish fin with several rods slipped under the leather, giving the thing structure. There were straps. So, it attached to something, but what? She didn't know. She didn't care, only that it had been a product of Hiccup's mind.

She couldn't help but think that many of Hiccup's inventions could have worked with the proper adjustments, but it was too late for that now, wasn't it? He was gone. He was never coming back. She should just forget about him. He was a screw-up anyway.

The blonde teen held picked up the lantern with a depressed sigh and let the light illumine the desk that was cluttered with papers. She shifted the papers of sketches and other technical writing with her other hand as she walked along the workbench, not paying much of attention to where she was walking. She walked into a pile of tools and fell over with a silent cry of surprise, hitting the floor with a 'ufff.'

Astrid frowned as she just lay there for a moment, grumbling

" _Gods… I'm becoming as clumsy as he was…_ "

She sighed and began to pick herself up when she noticed a floorboard that was sticking up slightly. It wasn't as dusty as the others. Eyebrows knitted with interest, she set the lantern right side up on the floor and crawled under the bench to where the plank was.

After pulling it up, she was surprised to see an empty space dug into the ground that stored several small leather-bound books that seemed have been collecting dust for a while, though some looked like they had been put there relatively recently.

Curious, she reached in and extracted one. It seemed pretty battered and abused and old.

She untied the leather strap and opened it up to a random page. Her eyes widened as she immediately reached for the lantern for light.

This was Hiccup's journal from five years ago. Her eyes grew wider and a chill descended down her spine as she read the entry on the page, unsure if she wanted to continue reading but unable to stop.

 _'… They pushed me into the well again and told everyone I tripped. I told dad that was a lie, but he shook his head._

 _He didn't believe me. No one did. I shouldn't be surprised. I'm such a failure. Everyone hates me. No one listens. I keep coming up with all these ideas to help, but keep failing. The usual. I never can do anything right. Nothing works. No one will accept anything but perfection on the first try._

 _But I should continue to try, right? Maybe next time it will be perfect. Then dad might see me more than a failure.'_

Guilt was eating away at Astrid as she flipped a few more pages before she closed it and put it back in the hole to withdraw another.

This one was only from two years ago.

She took a breath as she flipped to a random page and started reading.

 _'It's Snoggletog again._

 _Nothing much to report. Same as last year. I'm sitting in the backroom of the forge. Alone. Again. Surprise! Not really. Everyone else is up at the Great Hall, even dad. He didn't really talk with me much. Gave me a gift, though. Guess what weapon it was this time?_

 _A dagger._

 _I have to admit. I actually like this thing better than all the other weapons. At least, I can lift it with no problem. But, as usual, dad just handed it to me, said "Happy Snoggletog," and left. Surprise, surprise. Had to go take care of chiefing duties. No, but really, he probably wanted to get away from his number one worst Viking of a son._

 _Anyways, Happy Snoggletog, journal. Here's to maybe a better next one next year, maybe, probably not. Who cares? The answer: everyone but me. No point in looking forward to a holiday that involves celebrating with everyone hating your guts. Hel, I hate my own guts._

 _Well, I'm just working on a new idea. It's a mechanical system that pumps water. If I get it right, it could help with our buildings-keep-burning-down problem. Imagine water at the ready at any location you need or flipping a lever and water automatically puts out the fires in the burning buildings._

 _Yeah, maybe this one, regardless of if it fails at first or not, will catch everyone's attention. It isn't destructive and could really really help the village. Of course, they probably won't care, as usual, so this design probably won't make it past the sketch stage. Yay, wasting my time._

 _Anyways, that's all I got.'_

Astrid sighed. She felt really bad, now. Here she was reading about the life of a boy who had been picked on and shunned for most of his life, seeing it through his eyes. She felt guilt in her heart.

She flipped a few more pages, but she didn't have to turn much further for her breath to totally leave her and her hands to start trembling with horror.

This page was different than the others. It was crinkled and dirty. The writing was rushed and was smeared in places with an odd reddish ink appearing in places.

 _'I HATE THEM!'_

Astrid gulped as she read that line.

 _I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM! HATE THEM! Why can't they leave me alone? WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO THEM?! I'm weak, pathetic, USELESS! Is that the reason? It has to be! That's what they keep saying._

 _They're right of course._

 _I am useless._

 _Useless Hiccup._

 _hiccup. Hiccup. Hiccup._

 _Useless. Useless. Useless._

 _Dad said my name was given to me to fend off trolls, monsters, and other things. But he isn't fooling anyone. I am a hiccup. I'm weak and useless. Maybe I should have been tossed into the ocean. He hates me. He wished I was never born._

 _I wish I wasn't born._

 _MAYBE I SHOULD TOSS MYSLEF INTO THE OCEAN! I SHOULD JUST DIE! I SHOULD JUST KILL MYSELF!'_

Astrid gasped as she noticed the next few pages were splattered with red after that last line. She quickly threw the book away from her in horror, staring at the red blotches of the other pages as the journal fluttered partially closed.

"Gods, Hiccup…" She breathed with a disgusted groan as she rubbed her face with her trembling hands.

Her face was pale as she closed her eyes. It didn't take much to realize what the 'red ink' was. It filled her with an intense feeling of guilt and despair.

Had he really been feeling all that?! All that hate. All that _anger_. She had never seen him that angry. He never showed it. It had been tearing him up on the inside, and he never told a soul. It seems like he had rather have hurt himself

She breathed heavily, trying to rid herself of the image of Hiccup's blood upon those pages.

WHY WOULD HE DO THAT TO HIMSELF?!

She closed her eyes and curled her legs to her chest, hugging her knees to herself and rocking herself back and forth, choking back sobs.

Why…

She knew the answer, and it filled her with so much sorrow and guilt that it was nearly unbearable.

Guilt.

* * *

 ** _Present_**

* * *

Hiccup's silence was killing her.

Astrid bit her lip as she still had her eyes closed, afraid to open them and look into his, afraid of what she would find in those eyes.

What was she thinking? She shouldn't have brought this up. She should have remained quiet. Now, Hiccup must hate her now for intruding upon his personal life.

She heard a heavy sigh finally, after what seemed like ages.

"Astrid?"

She was afraid to move, but she hummed in response.

Hiccup sighed again.

"Astrid, could you look at me, please?"

Astrid reluctantly complied and looked up into weary saddened green eyes. Her own eyes were sparkling.

He closed them for a moment as he took the time to take a breath.

"I'm not mad at you, you know?" He opened his eyes again. "Besides, I should have realized that those journals would be found soon or later when I left." He gave her a knowing compassionate look as his ears flushed from shame. "You mustn't have liked what you found, huh?"

She gulped and took a breath, reaching up a hand to grip his shoulder.

"Did you really… cut yourself?" She asked in a hesitant and soft voice, feeling awkward and violating with the question.

Hiccup looked away, the back of his neck turning red. Then he undid some of his armor for his forearm and stuffed it under his arm as he pushed up the long-sleeved tunic underneath it along his arm to show her his exposed skin and many short, faded and thin, lines upon it. There were larger scars scratching through those series of little ones from days more recent.

He sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, I did, but only from when I was twelve and until I was fourteen. I hadn't cut myself in over a year when I left. They are the small scars. The bigger ones are from the forge back at Dale and other things."

Astrid reached out a hand and hovered over his arm upon seeing the scars but retracted it back, biting her lip.

"I'm sorry."

Hiccup grinned as he pulled back his sleeve and replaced the armor piece.

"I know, Astrid. I can see it in your eyes. I know I said it last night, but I will say it again. You've changed, Astrid Hofferson, but a good change."

She looked up at him.

"So, you're not mad?"

He shook his head with a reassuring smile.

"No. I may still have issues with anger, but they aren't directed to you anymore."

Astrid smiled but then it faded at a concerned thought.

"Are you still angry at Berk?"

Hiccup frowned.

"A little, yeah. But don't worry…" He grinned. "I'm not going to burn it down in a rage like I did Outcast Island or like the—err, nevermind. Point is, I don't plan on destroying and killing my old home and tribe because of somethings that had happened years ago."

Astrid smiled at him.

"Well, that's good. I would like to return to my home to see it still standing."

Hiccup chuckled and turned back to face forward again, leaving them both in silence again.

The woman laid her head against his shoulder again, something she had been doing a lot of during this trip. He didn't seem to mind, even though when she had put her arms around him at first, he had reacted uncomfortably.

Astrid sighed again. She felt herself becoming closer to him with each conversation they had. However, she had yet to understand if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Was he single? Or did he have a girlfriend? Eira? He only told her that Eira was someone very important to him, but what does that mean?

Why did she even care? She wasn't feeling attracted to him, was she?

 _'Yes, you are. We've been through this.'_

Astrid felt a blush at the thought.

It's true. She did. Gods, yes, she did, but that also bothered her. Did she feel this way because of his handsome looks? Or his charming personality? Or for who he was? Or maybe, and this was her fear, she was feeling attracted to him because she had been driving herself mad these past years trying to understand him that she was latching herself onto him because she had worked herself into some sort of obsession. In some ways, it seemed logical, but mostly it was irrational.

If she was honest with herself, she had no idea what to think. She never had feelings quite like this before, so this was new territory for her.

She just wondered if it would be new territory for Hiccup.

 _Stop it! Stop worrying about it. Just go with the flow. If he is single and there are no other 'obstacles,' follow your heart._

Astrid silently breathed out a sigh so as to not attract the attention of the subject of her thoughts.

Yeah, that was it. Just follow her heart.

Gods, she was nervous. Nervous about her parents and Berk. Nervous about Hiccup. Nervous about dragons. Nervous about her feelings, but mostly, she was nervous about what she will learn about Hiccup once she arrived in Dale.

Because she had a thought that had been bothering her since last night.

Why was he so secretive? Perhaps it was because there were things about Hiccup that she might not like if she knew them. Maybe he knew that.

Who was this Eira? Why the secrets?

 _I'm going to find out._

She thought as Toothless flew onward on a northeast heading.

Onward to Dale.

Onward to answers.

Onward to meet ghosts of Hiccup's past…

* * *

 **Wow. Glad I got that over with. Another monstrosity of a chapter on my part, but hopefully you guys liked it regardless. A lot of things happened. One intriguing opening monologue. Three flashbacks. One detail taken from HTTYD2. And much more. I don't know about you, but I think I deserve some sleep after finishing up this late into the night... or should I say 'this early in the morning'? Hm. Either or.**

 **Anyways, give me feedback. I really enjoy it. Share a few thoughts, pointers, tips, corrections, whatever flies your dragon. (I'm sorry I'm trying to come up with a new saying. Get it 'whatever floats your boat.' 'Whatever flies your dragon.' Haha... err... no? No. Okay. Call me a bad joker, and you'll be most probably right.) Leave a review and don't forget to follow/favorite this story for more.**

 **Another chapter should be coming in another 2 to 3 weeks, and will probably be shorter this time around. We'll see. I'm already writing it, but I have barely started. So, I have no idea when I will be done.**

 **Regardless, Hope you guys liked it!**

 **Until Next Time...**

 **StoryCrusader**


	3. Chapter 3: Arrival

**Whew, okay. I made it! I'm alive! The story is alive! We're all alive! Alive is good! Dead is bad! Yay!**

 **Okay, so, I apologize for the wait. I know I told you guys that this story wasn't going to be priority and all, but I did _not_ mean to have you wait that long. I mean... what has it been? Six months? Half a year?! For one chapter?! Yep, sorry. My bad. Kinda. Been busy, but I'll talk more about it at the post-AN for this chapter.**

 **Otherwise, enjoy...**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Arrival**

* * *

High in the sky, a dragon flies with two riders upon its back as the sun begins to end its westward course across the sky. Far below were islands, secluded from the rest of the island chain. This part of the region was largely uninhabited. Dragons roamed wild and free. No villages. No raids, not that there had been any reason to do so. The monster that had forced them to do so had been defeated and slayed.

Peace was brought upon the archipelago, but why there was peace was a mystery. No one in the Viking tribes knew exactly why the dragons had suddenly ceased their raids. Everyone thought that the beasts would return to raid their livestock and food stores, and so they had waited. And waited, but still no raid had occurred. Dragons were seen, but the beasts didn't attack. It puzzled many a Viking.

It was disturbing. Not a day has gone by since the mysterious end of dragon raids that the Vikings were not on edge and ready for another attack. They built stronger defenses. More secure food stores.

They waited, prepared, anticipated… But no raid came. At first it had made the Vikings fearful of an attack of epic proportions. Superstitions arose of the devils lying in wait, ready to strike once the villagers let down their guard. No one knew when the dragons would return, if they returned.

No one knew what happened those four years ago that ended the dragon raids besides two individuals riding atop a dragon's back and a village far to the northeast. One of the dragon's riders was on her way to unravel a mystery of her own. The other was on his way back to a secluded village to continue to try and hide himself from his past…

But the past has a habit of not remaining buried...

* * *

Astrid dozed against Hiccup's shoulder, her arms still wrapped snuggly around him. She was aware of how intimate this position was, but she had yet to see a negative response from the man whose shoulder she was currently using as a pillow. Her eyes had long since closed as the wind gently pushed through her golden hair as the subtle swaying motions of the flying dragon and the warmth from the body of Hiccup that she was so closely pressed against lulled her to the brink of sleep.

She could stay in this position forever. For the first time in a long time, she felt relieved and free. She didn't have to worry about her life. She could just stay up amongst the clouds, away from her problems, troubles, fears…

Fears…

She was afraid. She only opened up to Hiccup the way she did because the shock of him being still alive outweighed her fear for the most part. So, before she knew it, she put her trust in him, and was clinging onto him like a lifeline. Perhaps that is why she wasn't keen on returning to Berk. Hiccup didn't want to go back, and she would go wherever he went at the moment.

"Astrid."

Astrid hummed in response, still flitting between sleep and consciousness.

"Astrid. Wake up."

She reluctantly fluttered her eyes open and raised her head with tired eyes.

"Huh? What?" She mumbled as she sat upright, having slumped against Hiccup during her slumber.

Hiccup turned his body to look at her with a smile.

"We're close, Milady. And just in time to see the famous Dale sunset." He stated, gesturing to the orange orb sinking below the misty horizon.

Astrid blinked her eyes some at the sight as she took in the sight.

The sunset was indeed stunning. The clouds were bathed in a warm light, painting them a mixture of fascinating colors. The islands cast shadows around the waters that seemed to shift and change with the waves.

The mist that seemed to cling to the cluster of islands only heightened the spectacle. The water vapor seemed to create an ocean of orange cloud that covered the actual ocean below and left only the highest reaching islands to breach above the clouds. The whole setting gave off a magical feel. In simpler terms… It was beautiful

"Wow…" She breathed.

Hiccup smiled knowingly as he guided Toothless into a steady descent, shifting into a more northward direction of travel.

Astrid continued to admire the scenery. This was where Hiccup's been all these years? It's no wonder he never returned. The view was stunning.

She looked down at the islands. They seemed peaceful, void of any signs of human habitation.

She noticed that there weren't that many mountainous ones like Berk. Ones with high cliffs maybe, but the landscape on each seemed relatively smooth, filled with trees.

She felt Hiccup nudge her as they leveled out much closer to the surface of the ocean and treetops of the small islands they passed.

She looked up to meet his green eyes looking at her with a kind of excitement. He smiled at her while he nodded his head forward.

"There it is, Milady. Straight ahead is the secluded village of Dale, our destination."

Astrid leaned over to the side slightly to get a better look, eyes widening at the island coming into view and the small village set atop the highest point of it. It looked exactly like Hiccup's sketch in his journal with the exception of a few added structures and other more recent constructions. The mist surrounding the isle didn't reach the height of the village, giving the illusion that the top chunk of the island was resting on top of a cloud.

She saw glows of windows illuminating in the dim light as the sun became a mere sliver of red upon the horizon, slowly plunging the landscape into darkness.

Astrid took a breath, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"Oh wow, okay. Um, so what's the plan?"

 _'_ _What's the plan?!' Did I really ask that? It isn't like we are infiltrating an enemy stronghold! Odin's Ghost… I'm such a mess. But what if they don't like me? What if they aren't as accepting of me as Hiccup is?!_

Hiccup smiled reassuringly at the gulping woman behind him as if he detected her panicked thoughts.

"Don't worry. Just stick by me and let me do the talking. Uh, though I might have to leave you with some friends for a bit, if that's alright."

He looked at Astrid questioningly.

She bit her lip at the prospect of being left alone with a bunch of strangers, but she mentally slapped herself the instant the feelings of panic started to fill her mind.

 _NO! I will not let myself get afraid of people. These were good people. Right? They won't try anything. Still…_

"Astrid?"

She flinched out of her thoughts and snapped her eyes upon the questioning gaze of Hiccup.

He had risen an eyebrow at her.

"You alright?"

Astrid shook her head free of lingering thoughts and managed a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll stay with your friends while you do stuff, if you want."

 _No problem… No problem at all…_

Hiccup nodded his head with a smile.

"We'll skip the dramatic entrance. Sorry, bud." He directed that at Toothless who seemed to croon with disappointment.

Astrid ginned a bit at that but then jumped in the saddle when a squeaky roar of some sort suddenly sounded from the below.

"What was that?!" She exclaimed, leaning over to try and see the source of the noise when a blur of scales and wings shot past her to collide into Hiccup's head, making him flinch and give a cry of surprise.

Astrid yelped in fright, leaning back from the Terrible Terror that was clinging to the man's head and rubbing its head rapidly against his brown hair, purring.

"Uh, H-Hiccup?" She questioned in wary surprise.

Hiccup just chuckled as he reached up to pry the small dragon from his head and into his hands.

"Well, this… ow. This is Sharpshot. Sharpshot, Astrid. Astrid, Sharpshot." He said gesturing between the two.

She just grinned nervously at the small greenish dragon, who just licked his yellow eyeball in greeting.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at the Terrible Terror and held him out in front of him.

"Glad to see you too, buddy. Now, go back home. We'll meet you there."

SharpShot licked his eyeball again before spreading his small wings and zipping away as the man released him.

Astrid sat back up, watching the little dragon fly away back down to the village.

"Well, I didn't expect that." She commented in a daze.

She looked back at Hiccup to see him leaning forward, directing Toothless into a steep descent. She quickly leaned forward too as she felt the air begin to race past her.

She now saw that Hiccup was taking them directly to the village.

She instinctively wrapped her arms around him again as the nervousness welled up within her.

 _Oh Gods, here we go…_

It didn't take them long to reach the ground and soon Astrid's stomach was doing summersaults as she shakily stepped off the dragon.

They had landed in a dark and quiet space at the center of the village. The buildings surrounded them, varying in height. Astrid noticed several shops and such scattered around the plaza. It was a nice and small village. Not nearly as big and grand as Berk, but it certainly held a tranquility to it.

Hiccup smiled reassuringly at her as she stood beside him, looking around at the village warily.

"Welcome to Dale, Astrid."

Astrid took a breath and grinned nervously.

"Well, it's… quiet."

Hiccup shrugged.

"It's dinner time. Everyone should be in the Mead Hall at the top of the hill."

He directed Astrid's attention by pointing at a large structure up the hill from their position in the village square.

She could see a warm light coming out of the wide open doors of it and heard the voices and laughter coming from it, shadows betraying the presence of people within.

Astrid breathed a sigh of relief. At least, she knew where everyone was now.

She felt Hiccup take her hand and begin to pull her in the opposite direction.

She looked at him in confusion as Toothless followed patiently behind them.

"Where are we going?"

Hiccup looked back at her with a grin.

"I'm going to take you by Marge's to get that wound looked at from a more professional eye. I was also planning on asking her if you can stay with her while you're here."

Astrid gulped with anxiety at the reminder that she wasn't going to be staying with him. Oh, she wished she was staying with him, but if Hiccup said that she could trust this person, she would give them a chance.

"Okay, so where is sh—"

"HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD!"

Astrid's eyes bulged at the loud use of Hiccup's full name while he just winced as if he just stepped on a thorn. They both froze where they stood.

Hiccup grinned nervously at the questioning gaze of Astrid and quickly turned to greet the woman storming up the path towards him.

"Uh… Marge!" He greeted with a cheerful voice, in hopes of avoiding the scolding he was apparently about to receive.

Astrid relaxed a bit and raised an eyebrow at Hiccup.

So this was Marge?

The taller older woman came to halt in front of Hiccup, glaring at him with intense amber colored eyes as her grey hair bounced off her back in a single braid. She wore a plain blue dress with brown leather boots, black leggings covering her legs. She was a strong built Viking woman, through and through. From her height to her impressive muscles for her age and gender, this Marge looked like a warrior, even though time had weathered her appearance. Her face showed signs of wrinkles, but her eyes and voice remained as strong as they must have been in her prime.

She definitely had the intimidating glare down…

Marge huffed and placed a hand on her hip while waving a finger down at the man.

"Ohhh, no. Don't ' _Marge_ ' me, young man. Where have you been?! You were supposed to be back _days_ ago!"

Hiccup groaned, rubbing the back of his neck before shrugging with both hands.

"Yeah, well, long trip, went to places I wasn't expecting, and had to help an old friend and yada yada- Astrid!" He suddenly flung his arms backwards to gesture to the newcomer to the island. "This is Astrid! Astrid, Marge. Marge, Astrid." He introduced hastily with a grin, in an obvious nervous effort to divert the attention away from his lateness.

Astrid blinked as Marge snapped her eyes upon her with a softened expression and warm smile, looking unlike the intimidating aged Valkyrie she had been before. Instead she looked more… motherly? The blonde young woman blinked again in put-off surprise and smiled nervously.

"Hi, nice to meet you…" She hastily greeted.

The older woman nodded with a welcoming gaze and smile.

"Pleasure to meet you, dear." She greeted sweetly before her eyes instantly turned stern again as she snapped her attention back upon the slightly cowering Hiccup.

"But _you,_ young man, have some explaining to do." Marge growled sternly, waving her finger at him in an oddly motherly fashion.

Astrid saw Hiccup wince and grin apologetically while he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, later, okay? It's been a complicated few days." He said with a sigh.

Marge seemed satisfied enough and nodded firmly, expression softening back to a kind peaceful woman.

"Good. Now! Mind introducing me, _properly_ , to this fine young lass?" She asked with a sweet smile at the young woman.

Astrid couldn't help but relax a bit at the motherly feeling this woman gave off.

Hiccup grinned at the healer before stepping back to lay a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Marge, this is Astrid. She and I knew each other back on Berk, though… uh, we weren't really friends then." He admitted with a shrug.

"But we are now." Astrid added, a smile to her voice, trying to hide her ever present unease at being in this foreign place but feeling like she should say something instead of standing in awkward silence.

Gods, they were friends. Her and Hiccup. It just felt so… right to say that. This was how it should have been years ago…

Marge nodded with an understanding smile.

"Ah, well, it's nice to see you reconciling with your past, Hiccup." She commented.

Astrid noticed Hiccup's grin faded a bit and the hand on her shoulder tightened slightly, but he hid it well with a shrug, making her frown slightly.

"Only with Astrid at least. She was in a sticky situation with the Outcasts that I helped her get out of. She'll be staying here for a little while." He said with a smile. Astrid, on the other hand, fought a grimace and tried to not think about what happened, biting the inside of her lip.

 _"_ _Get off me, you sons of half-trolls! Loki spawn! Brainless disgusting worms!" "Hold her down, boys!" "No, stop it! Don't touch me! Ahh! Get your hands off-!" "Keep her down! Quit your squirming you bitch. Let me show ya some manners, eh boys?!" "No! Stop! STOP! ST—AAHHH!"_

Astrid felt her chest constricting as her scream reverberated through her memory, making her eyes sting and the color drain from her face. She inhaled a bit and shook herself to clear her head. She felt Hiccup's grip tighten reassuringly on her shoulder, and she blushed slightly, realizing he must have noticed. She didn't need to look at him to know he was giving her a sympathetic frown.

 _Damn it! Keep yourself together, Astrid!_

Marge raised an eyebrow, oblivious to what just happened, and glanced at Astrid, looking her over.

"Outcasts, eh? Nasty bastards, them lot. Well, I'm sure the chief will allow it. Astrid, dear? You look hungry. I know exactly what you need. My famous Sheep, Deer, and Bean Stew!" She proclaimed, suddenly grabbing Astrid's hand and hauling her down the path with Hiccup and Toothless following behind.

Astrid's eyes bulged at the sudden contact and stumbled a bit over her feet trying to keep up with the brisk walk of the tall woman.

"Uh, Hiccup?" She quickly questioned back to the man in question.

He smiled reassuringly.

"It's alright, Astrid. You're in good hands."

Marge suddenly drew to a halt, making Astrid grunt as she was jolted to a stop.

She blonde blinked in surprise as the older woman glared down Hiccup.

"What are you doing hanging around? Don't ya worry yourself, boy! I'll take good care of Miss Astrid here. Don't you have someone you need to see?" She challenged with a raised eyebrow that made Hiccup's eyes widen.

"Oh, uh, yeah, but…" He stumbled over his words as his eyes flicked to Astrid.

Astrid gave him a small grin in response.

"Eira?"

Hiccup's face flushed red with a nervous look.

"Yeah." He muttered.

"When do I get to meet this mysterious Eira?" She asked suddenly, her mounting curiosity getting the better of her, but the moment the question left her lips, she wished she could take it back.

Something changed inside Hiccup's eyes as his face hardened and his nervous demeanor vanished. His eyes bore into her for a moment before he looked meaningfully at Marge.

"When I am ready for you to." He stated in a tone that eliminated any further prodding.

Astrid winced and shrunk back, wishing she hadn't brought it up.

 _Damn me and my curiosity…_

Marge frowned with concern at him, eyes flickering between him and the woman whose hand she was still holding.

"Hiccup, dear. You might as well tell h—"

Hiccup's eyes narrowed.

"No." He said with a hint of a growl in his voice, silencing the older woman.

Astrid grit her teeth, not believing the difference in the man standing before her. He was no longer the nervous and awkward Hiccup she had known during her childhood. He carried an air of authority and capability that she had only ever seen in his father. What changed during all these years?

Marge sighed and shook her head.

"Fine, but you go to _her_ now. Understand?"

Hiccup's features softened a bit as he shook himself from an apparent daze and nodded, flickering an apologetic gaze at Astrid.

"Uh… yeah. Yeah, I'll see you in a bit, Astrid." Then he smirked, trying to lighten the mood. "Hey, enjoy the stew. It's _infamous_ for a reason."

Astrid just looked at him in confusion before Marge started to yell at him, making him jump upon Toothless' saddle with a snort of laughter.

"Hiccup Haddock! Are you implyin' what I think your implyin'?! My stew is the best on the island!"

The older woman shook a fist at the young man as he fluidly clicked himself into the saddle with a smirk.

"Of course, Marge. Of course. I believe you. We _all_ do." He assured in a not-so believable way, padding Toothless' neck, cuing the dragon to take off.

Astrid grinned as the older woman growled after him, still shaking her fist in the air at the barely visible shadow above. Well, Hiccup sure hasn't lost that sarcastic flare. She bit back a bout of laughter as she looked to the healer.

"I'm sure he's just joking around, ma'am." She commented politely, directing the scowling healer's attention to her.

Marge hmphed and pulled the younger woman down the path between a few buildings.

"He better… That young man- Ooo!-sarcastic as they come!"

Astrid smiled at that. Hiccup indeed was one of the most sarcastic people she knew. She liked that.

Her heart fluttered a bit at the thought. Gods, she was hopeless…

She hid a blush and brushed a rebellious strand of air behind her ear as she was guided to a door of a building on the edge of the village.

Marge released her hand with a sigh and opened the door.

"He's a sarcastic but sad lad. Been through a lot, that Hiccup."

Astrid raised an eyebrow in question as she followed the woman into the building.

"Like what?" She asked curiously.

Damn her curiosity! It's none of her business!

The woman looked at her with a frown.

"Well, I probably shouldn't tell you. That young man is one of the sweetest I've met, but he has a dreadful temper at times, becomes someone else entirely. Sad part is, he wasn't always like that."

Astrid felt her eyebrows raise in interest, waiting for the woman to elaborate but was sorely disappointed when she didn't.

The blonde sighed with a hint of frustration as she closed the door behind her and looked around the interior.

It was decorated with everything you would expect to be in a Viking house. Shields and weapons adorned the walls along with several portraits of people that the blonde could only assume to be relatives of Marge.

The wooden rafters held up the top floor of the structure around the ceiling of the rectangular room. A staircase ascended to the floor above on along an adjacent wall to the left of the door. Everything was kept neat and clean. Astrid couldn't see a speck of dust anywhere.

A stew appeared to be boiling in a cauldron over an open flame in the firepit at the center of the room, the smoke trailing out through a hole in the ceiling that led to the pipe the funneled the smoke out of the building.

Astrid blinked a bit as she heard an odd growling sound from above her, making her slowly look up, instincts suddenly making her heart rate quicken.

Her eyes bulged with a startled cry as her heart skipped a couple beats when a large bluish mass fell from the rafters above her to land with a heavy thud on the floor in front of her with a growl.

"SON OF A…

She stumbled back to stare warily at the unmistakable form of a Monstrous Nightmare. It was a light blue color. Darker tones of blue detailed the patterns upon the wings and body typical of the dragon's species. It's yellow eyes were narrowed at her with a hiss, but it was quickly silenced by an angry Marge yelling at it.

"FLAMER! WHAT IS YOUR FILTHY GOOD FOR NOTHIN' BLUE HIDE DOIN' IN MY HOUSE?!"

The Nightmare's eyes suddenly bulged with fright, wings flaring out slightly as the dragon snapped its head around to cower in the gaze of the fiery woman.

Astrid relaxed a bit after the shock of coming face to face with an unknown dragon but noticed that she had been reaching instinctively for her axe on her back… which she didn't have. She quickly lowered her hand, silently scolding herself for her instinctive reaction.

 _Dragons are not what you thought they were…_ She thought to herself in encouragement.

The Nightmare squawked meekly at the healer who was sending a death glare at the reptile without fear.

Marge rolled her eyes as she stood firm with her hands akimbo. She frowned in thought.

"If you're here, then…" She suddenly turned and bellowed at the stairs. "BARD!"

"Yep!" Came an answering male voice from somewhere in the upper level of the structure.

Astrid's eyes glanced to the stairs as she warily skirted around the young Nightmare. There was a tapping sound along with some shuffling as a set of feet appeared, descending the stairs.

She was surprised when she saw a black-haired man wearing a simple blue long-sleeved tunic and black pants with brown-furred boots. He carried a small white lamb in one arm and a wooden staff that was hooked on one end in his other hand. He had a grey scarf wrapped loosely around his neck.

His hair somewhat resembled Hiccup's unruly hair, though it was longer than the dragon rider's.

His dark blue observant eyes swept over her with curiosity before settling on Marge. He smiled at her in greeting, seemingly unfazed by the middle-aged woman's ferocious glare.

"Hey, Marge. Just had to get this guy patched up. Fell into a hole and broke his leg." He informed, gesturing to the splinted and bandaged leg on the lamb.

The healer rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh, pinching the space between her eyes.

"Bard, how many times do I have to tell you to not bring that Nightmare of yours inside my house?" She growled.

Bard grinned apologetically.

"Sorry, Marge. Won't happen again." He assured, but Marge only scowled, placing her hands on her hips as she shook her head and moved away.

"That's what you said the last time…" She grumbled as she made for her cooking pot.

"Well this time for sure then." He assured with a hopeful smile at the retreating form of the healer. The old woman merely waved a dismissing hand, not bothering to turn around.

He gave a chuckle as he then turned to the unknown blonde in the room with curious eyes.

Astrid grinned nervously at him as his analytical gaze looked at her.

He smiled at her before shifting his staff under his arm and extending a hand.

"Well. Well. A new face to the village. I'm Bard."

The blonde's grin slipped from her face as she flinched, a sudden impulsive fear claiming her chest for a moment. Memories fluttered through her mind.

Hands reaching towards her. Grabbing at her…

Chained. Naked. Afraid. Helpless—

She sharply inhaled as she shuddered and quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts as the man in front of her took back his hand with a warm smile, seemingly not caring that she didn't return the polite gesture.

Bard retook his staff in his hand and shifted his weight upon it.

"So, I am just going to assume that Hiccup is back and brought you along with him, right?"

Astrid blinked in surprise. How did he…

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?" She questioned with a puzzled look.

The man shrugged.

"We don't have many new faces around here. Only a few traders every once in a while, none of which have visited in the past day. So, that leaves only a few other options, none of which seem likely except you coming to our humble island by dragon," He shrugged and continued, "and since there are no other dragon riders that we know of besides here in Dale, that only leaves Hiccup, who has been gone for a while, and it would only seem logical that he would have returned tonight if a new face appeared suddenly out of the blue." He explained logically.

The Astrid blinked again before grinning. Wow. Well, when he put it like that…

"Well, okay then. Makes sense." She commented in a slightly bewildered voice.

 _Well, isn't he a smart guy?_

Bard nodded in response before cocking his head to the side with an arched eyebrow.

"Yep, so you are an old friend of Hiccup's?"

Astrid had to quickly stop a wince at the question. She shrugged, averting her eyes. Old friend? No. Not in the slightest. Old bully? Yeah… She felt that guilt shift within her stomach, making her feel nauseous, but she didn't let it show.

"Something like that. We knew each other back on Berk." She answered, head hung downward a bit and eyes downcast as she rubbed her arm.

"Ah, so you're Astrid Hofferson then." Bard suddenly hummed.

The blonde's head snapped up in surprise as a blush crept up her neck. Her name! He knew her name! How much did Hiccup tell people about her?! That thought made her blush harder.

"How did…" She started before seeing his sly smile and wink.

Bard chuckled a bit, leaning forward slightly as if telling her a secret.

"I didn't. It was a guess. But it seems I was right." He observed, straightening up again.

Astrid blinked before frowning with a sigh, rolling her eyes as she shifted her feet. Of course... Hiccup and him must get along great. Sassy. Smart. It was like they were brothers.

"Yeah, well, you were." She admitted with a grumble, somewhat uncomfortable with the thought that a stranger knew who she was so far away from home. What else did Hiccup tell them about her?

Bard smiled at her and interrupted her thoughts.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Astrid. As heir to the Chief of the Mistkeeper Tribe, allow me to be one of the first to welcome you to Dale." He offered with a slight bow.

Astrid blinked in surprise. _He_ was the heir? But he looked to be a shepherd. Kind of odd for the heir, but she guessed it was alright. After all, Hiccup was heir to Berk by birthright, and he hadn't seemed to fit the role when he was smiled politely and nodded gratefully.

"Um, thank you." She responded awkwardly.

The black-haired man grinned in response before turning to the Monstrous Nightmare that had been waiting patiently in the background.

"I see you already met Flamer."

The woman laughed nervously, keeping a wary eye on the dragon who was looking at her curiously.

 _Why is it staring at me like that? I swear if you try anything you overgrown lizard, I will have your head…_

"Uh, yeah. He kind of… dropped from the ceiling." She explained, smile remaining on her face but her eyes narrowing in challenge at the dragon.

The blue dragon seemed to copy her movements, his yellow eyes narrowing as well, though lacking aggression.

Bard rolled his eyes in a way that told Astrid this wasn't the first time that the dragon had surprised someone by dropping from the rafters.

"Typical. Anyways… Flamer, I need you to take this guy back to the pasture." He told the dragon while taking out a section of cloth and creating a sling around the injured lamb.

Flamer crooned as he slithered closer, opening his mouth to accept the knotted end of the sling that now held the lamb inside it.

The Nightmare kept his head aloft as he carefully maneuvered it around with the dumbly blinking lamb dangling beneath. Astrid stepped out of the way with a bemused look on her face as Bard stepped towards the door and yanked it open for the reptile to exit with his package into the night.

She gaped in disbelief. She had half expected the dragon to eat the lamb right then and there.

"He won't eat it?" She asked, mind blazing with questions.

Bard looked at her with a knowing grin.

"A recent convert on the views of dragons, are you?" He gestured to where the Nightmare had disappeared into the night. "To answer your question, no, he won't. Dragons are fiercely loyal and obedient when treated properly, as I'm sure Hiccup has told you."

Astrid nodded in confirmation. She had discussed that with him during their flight, but it was still bizarre witnessing it in person.

The man sighed with a grin, looking back to Astrid.

"Well, I have to get back to the sheep. Can't tell what they got themselves into while I was gone. A flock of idiots is what they are. Be sure to come to breakfast at the Great Hall tomorrow…" He trailed off as his eyes flickered to where Marge had dismissed herself to attend to a pot of boiling stew over a firepit. His voice lowered.

"I hope Hiccup's warned you about Marge's stew. She's a great healer but a horrid cook." He warned in a voice just a above a whisper.

Astrid grinned a bit.

"Oh, he has, but it can't be that bad, right?"

Bard gave her an uneasy grin, that was suspiciously like Hiccup's and made her fight to keep a snort of laughter from escaping her lips.

"You'll see." He told her ominously before shaking his head. "Anyways, I must get to the flock. Might even try and find Hiccup while I'm at it. Knowing him, he'll want to be with Eira… who just so happens to be out with the sheep with me tonight." He told her with a chuckle.

Astrid's interest spiked after hearing the mysterious name. That name… Eira. Who was Eira? Maybe Bard had answers. Her heart skipped a beat as she gave a curious look.

"I keep hearing about this Eira, but Hiccup is being very secretive about her for some reason. Who is she?" She asked hopefully.

Bard's face fell into a frown, looking thoughtful and more befitting of a chief's heir.

"He hasn't told you?" He questioned with a slight note of disappointment to his voice.

Astrid shook her head with a cautious frown. Should Hiccup have told her?

"No." She answered.

The man sighed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes upward as he raked a hand through his black hair.

"Looks like I'm going to have to talk to him about that, but if he hasn't told you yet, then it won't be right for me to. Sorry…" He informed with an apologetic look as her face fell into disappointment. "Gods, it's really silly for him to be keeping that from you." He commented, shaking his head again. "But… I have to respect his wishes." He shrugged.

Astrid mentally stumped her foot at another fail at getting answers but kept it to herself as she nodded with a frown and sigh.

"I understand. I was just wondering." She gave him a polite smile. "Have fun with your sheep, um, Bard. Nice to meet you."

The shepherd smiled and gave a nod of his head as he stepped further into the cooling night air.

"Thank you, Astrid. Nice to meet you too, and see you in the morning. Oh, and, uh, don't eat too much of that stew. Trust me." He quipped with a grin before limping away into the darkness, tapping his staff.

Astrid grinned as she closed the door to keep the chilly night air out. She exhaled softly as she listened to the comforting stillness of the warm interior of the structure. It was a very satisfying change from a cold cage on Outcast Isle. She shuddered just thinking about that place, even if she had only been held captive for a few days. It may not seem like a lot, but it was the strenuous and traumatic experiences and situations that made it seem like weeks since she had been safe at home with her family. The crackle of a fire in her clan hall. The warm wooden walls. The decorations on the walls.

Astrid sighed, before looking to Marge at the call of her name.

"Astrid dear, come eat." The grey-haired woman beckoned while ladling some thick stew into a bowl.

The blonde smiled some as she wandered over. At least she felt comfortable enough with this woman. She guessed she _could_ spend the night in this place after all. It reminded her of home, and she bet the cooking would be just as great, no matter what those two clowns said.

Astrid sat across the table from the healer, blue eyes watching as the woman slid a steaming bowl over to her.

Marge's amber eyes crinkled with a warm smile as she gestured to the bowl with her own spoon.

"Well? What are you waitin' for? Eat up!"

The blonde grinned, but couldn't help the wariness that suddenly popped into her mind as she picked up her spoon and looked down at the steamy pile of… stew. She cocked her head in slight confusion at the substance in her bowl. Was… Was stew supposed to look like that?

She shook her head, banishing the doubts form her mind and fixing her face into a determined frown as she scooped some of the stew onto her spoon and raised it to her mouth.

 _How bad could it be?_

* * *

Bard frowned as he stared at the bundle of blankets, a head of long brown hair poking out from the cocoon as its owner slept soundly against the side of the blue young Monstrous Nightmare. Flamer's long serpentine body curled around the blankets as the reptile breathed lightly in a peaceful sleep.

Bard's frown deepened when he heard the familiar wing flaps of a dragon coming in for a landing. He sighed and smiled a bit as he turned away from the fire he had constructed under the tree that sat the top of a hill that overlooked the sheep pen.

He looked as the black dragon landed with a croon in greeting and his rider slipped off.

Bard used his staff to push himself to his feet as he walked over to greet the rider.

"Nice to see you back, Hiccup." He greeted as he opened his arms in askance.

Hiccup laughed a bit as he embraced the older man while Toothles padded over to lay beside Flamer, who had woken up to see what was going on.

The auburn-haired man smiled as he pulled away with a content sigh, green eyes glinting in the firelight.

"Good to be back."

Bard nodded as he led the dragon rider back over to the fire, an arm around his shoulders.

"Eira was worried about you." He informed with a knowing grin.

Hiccup scoffed lightly as he looked lovingly at the bundle of blankets.

"So nothing new." He joked as he sat down on the log beside the black-haired man. He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'll just let her sleep for now."

Bard nodded in understanding as he stoked the fire some with a stick, his staff laid aside.

"So, Astrid…" he began, raising an eyebrow.

Hiccup's exhaled heavily as he laughed a but anxiously, eyes glancing over.

"Uh, yeah. So, you've met her." He guessed, rubbing his neck.

Bard nodded, his face falling into a frown.

"Yeah." He confirmed before looking at Hiccup. "You know she likes you, right?"

Hiccup tensed as he snapped his wide eyes in surprise upon the Mistkeeper heir.

"S-She… what?" He stuttered.

Bard rolled his eyes with a sigh as he pinched the space between his eyes.

"Gods, Hiccup. I swear you are blind sometimes! I only was with her for a few moments, and I could already see that she likes you."

Hiccup bit his lip as he stared into the fire.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked quietly his ears turning red.

The shepherd frowned and gestured to his eyes.

"She had that twinkle in her eye. Trust me. I know that look. You had it in your eyes when you fell in love with my sister." He stated before leaning forward to look into Hiccup's eyes before sighing and closing his eyes in realization. "And you have it now when you think of Astrid." He observed with a frown.

Hiccup tensed, but did not deny the accusation.

Bard narrowed his eyes at the dragon rider.

"You still have feelings for her, don't you?" He asked.

Hiccup hung his head, hiding his face from view as his neck flared red.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He grumbled.

Bard shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh, yeah, you do. Don't try that yakshit on me, Hiccup. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Hiccup groaned silently as he glanced anxiously at the sleeping form amongst the blankets. He lowered his voice so it wouldn't carry as far.

"Yeah, I do, okay?" He admitted, shame leaking through his voice before hastily adding, "But I still love your sister with all my heart." He defended, though he looked a bit guiltily towards where Eira was nestled in the blankets.

Bard released a groan as he rubbed his face in his hands in irritation.

"Hiccup." He began with slight exasperation as he struggled to keep his cool. "You know you have to tell Astrid the truth, right? About Eira?"

Hiccup immediately went defensive as he shot a glare at the man.

"Do I?" He challenged with some heat to his voice.

Bard, to his credit, didn't flinch at the aggressive tone but instead glared back.

"Yes, you do." He stated firmly before cutting Hiccup's retort off as he continued. "For your own sake. I know you love my sister, but I can see it in your eyes that you love Astrid too. Don't you deny it! For Thor's sake, Hiccup, you have to choose?! My sister or Astrid. You can't have them both."

Hiccup threw a stick into the fire with a growl, knowing Bard was right as he glanced over to Eira, expression softening.

"I know. It's just… Seeing her after so long, it just awakened some feelings that I thought I buried long ago." He admitted softly before shaking his head with a determined frown. "But I need to put that in the past. I can't do that to Eira. I'll remain loyal to your sister to my dying breath."

Bard sighed as he shook his head, frowning softly at Hiccup.

"Do what you think is right, brother, but take my advice. Tell Astrid. Tell her everything. You can't keep playing with her head like you have by keeping Eira a secret."

Hiccup made a pained look as he fiddled with a twig in his hands.

"I'm not sure I can do that, Bard. What will she think?" He frowned in thought. "And what about Eira?"

Bard rolled his eyes.

"What about her? You won't be protecting her by keeping her a secret." He fixed the dragon rider with a mild glare. "And you can't protect her by flying off to who knows where for weeks at a time either, Hiccup."

Hiccup's frown deepened as he continued to fiddle with the twig in his hands, but he didn't respond.

Bard sighed, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere with the stubborn dragon rider. He shook his head before nudging Hiccup's shoulder with his own.

"I know you feel like you are a magnet for pain and suffering and you want to distance yourself from the people you care about in order to 'protect them,' but Hiccup, you have to realize that you are not making the pain go away. You are only making it linger… for all of us." He whispered.

The auburn-haired man visibly winced at the words, knowing that there was truth there, but he shook his head lightly, not wanting to think about it. He suddenly stood up and walked over to Toothless.

"I'm going for a flight." He announced softly.

Bard sighed again with a frown.

"You can't keep running from your past, Hiccup. The ghosts always come back to haunt you." He told him.

Hiccup froze in his steps for a moment, his back to his friend, before silently resuming his approach to the awaiting Toothless, who had sensed his rider's conflicting mind and knew that it meant a flight.

Bard stood up, leaning upon his staff as he called out to Hiccup while the man paused a moment to carefully adjust some of the blankets around the sleeping Eira to keep her warm, her loose brown hair tumbling down her shoulders as her head lulled awkwardly to the side in her sleep.

"You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened, Hiccup! It's not your fault." The shepherd urged as he limped over to him.

Hiccup sighed as he pushed Eira's head into a more comfortable position before turning around to mount Toothless, unable to meet Bard's gaze.

"I'll be back later." He stated as he clipped himself into the saddle.

Bard groaned a bit with frustration.

"Hiccup…"

" _Just_ …" Hiccup began with an irritated voice before forcing a calm. "…drop it, Bard." The dragon rider growled as he made a pained expression, his face hardening as his knuckles grew white when he gripped the bars on the saddle. His green eyes narrowed at something unseen. "I need time to think."

The Night Fury suddenly complied with his rider's unspoken signal to take off with a croon before Bard could react. The shepherd was left with his hand raised to block the gust of wind that blew into his face, gazing after the shadowy streak.

Bard shook his head and banged his staff on the ground to vent some of his frustration.

"Stubborn minded…" He growled under his breath, trailing off into a grumble as he checked to see if Eira was still okay before hobbling back over to his seat upon the log. He looked up to the sky with a frown. "You are one of the smartest people I know, Hiccup, but you are also one of the most foolish." He muttered.

* * *

 _Six years ago…_

* * *

The fifteen-year-old Astrid relaxed against the tree contently. She had her eyes closed as she listened to the peaceful sounds happening around her. She was at one of her most recent favorite places on Berk, the top of Gothi's hill, near the elder's hut. It provided a spectacular view over the village and the world beyond that opened up to the vast ocean which connected all lands in existence, or so she has been told. She wondered if you could reach another realm like Asgard if you sailed far enough, or maybe you would sail off the edge of the world before that happened. Who knows?

The teen breathed in the sudden breeze that rippled through her hair and her warm clothes. She opened her eyes to gaze out at the sun that was setting on the horizon out away from the snow covered Berk.

Astrid smiled as she pushed herself up from against the tree to wipe away some of the powdery snow that had clung to her skirt. She wore a thick furred hood and had her arm coverings on to protect her arms from the cold. It wasn't cold enough to completely deck out in thick warm furs as she no doubt will during the biting chill of the colder months.

She began her walk down the hill towards the Great Hall. She couldn't believe it had been over half a year since Hiccup's death. She still thought about him. How could she not? She had been the last one to see him. She had been the last one to talk to him, and she had said such mean things to him…

She ignored the odd looks sent her way. She had been getting a lot of those since they had found her in the woods, muttering about Hiccup being dead. She barely remembered those several days she had spent alone in the woods. She only remembered the shame and guilt she had felt. She remembered the dread about returning to the village, fearing the reaction.

Astrid could honestly say that she was changing, that she had changed. She didn't hang out with the teens her age much anymore. Instead, she had begun to play with the little children. She didn't know why. She just did. She felt a budding connection with the young children. Perhaps it was the young creativity that reminded her of Hiccup. Perhaps it was the innocence that was still present at that age. They still had their whole lives ahead of them. Such promise…

She pushed open the doors to the Great Hall and entered the warm interior. She allowed the close with a click behind her as she walked through the hive of activity as villagers milled around from table to table as they enjoyed their evening meal. She miled when she saw her mother sitting in a chair and gently rocking the newest member to the Hofferson clan in her arms, her three-month-old baby brother. Rolf Magnus Hofferson. It had been a happy day that had marked the beginning of the turn from her depression. She had since devoted her life to helping others. She still trained. She still kept her axe sharp, but she didn't put much emphasis on combat nowadays.

"Hey, mom."

Ingrid Hofferson looked up from rocking her child to smile at her daughter.

"Astrid! Where have you been all day?"

The girl shrugged as she strolled up to tickle her little brother's tummy.

She made a goofy face down at the giggling baby before responding.

"Just helped Mulch and Bucket to pack the fish away in the storage and then looked after some of Haverson's kids and helped Gothi with some stuff. How has Rolf been doing?" She asked as she wiggled the babe's arm.

Her mother smiled warmly as she looked down at her blue-eyed babe.

"Just fine. He's a very active babe. Healthy and strong as can be."

Astrid grinned as her brother's small hand latched onto her finger with surprising grip for a baby. She had to shake it loose.

"You got that right."

She looked up into the fond gaze of her mother and raised an eyebrow at the grin on her mother's face.

"What?" She asked.

Ingrid shook her head with a sigh.

"Oh, nothing. I just can't help but think you'll be a good mother one day." She waved her hand in dismissal at her daughter's widening eyes. "Don't mind it. It's a parent thing." She explained as she went back to rocking Rolf from side to side, watching the babe's eyes slowly begin to close.

Astrid hummed in understanding though a blush formed on the back of her neck at the thought. She took a sharp inhale of breath before stepping away.

"Okay. I'm going to go get something to eat. Want anything?"

Her mother shook her head with a smile.

"No. Thank you anyways, dear."

The blonde teen nodded her head in response before turning towards the food table to collect her plate.

As she was getting her plate filled, she heard someone call her name.

"Hey, Astrid!"

She turned with a frown to see Snotlout waving her over to where he and the twins were seated. She merely forced a smile and waved back before purposefully walking the other way.

"Oh come one, babe!" Snotlout complained. "You know you want hang with the Snotman." He said in that annoying arrogant voice that so easily got underneath her skin.

She stiffened as her face twisted into a scowl when the familiar heat rose in her gut… and it wasn't the nice and fluttery kind of heat…

She turned around to glare at Snotlout.

"Snotlout, I've told you once, and I'll tell you again. Don't call me 'babe'!" She yelled, bringing the attention of many of the other occupants inside the hall. "I'm not your babe and I never will!"

Snotlout didn't seem to fully understand how much she meant what she said because he only laughed and waved a hand in dismissal.

"You're just saying that. You and I. We were destined to be together." He claimed with a smirk, leaning back against his table confidently.

Astrid felt her hands grip the sides of her plate harder as she gritted her teeth.

"Oh yeah?" She questioned with a growl.

Snotlout nodded.

"Yep. Think about it. I'm going to be the chief. You could be my chieftess. We'll be great together!" He commented with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

That did it.

Astrid slammed her plate upon her table before storming over to the arrogant ego-driven black-haired teen and nailing her fist into his nose, making him fall over with a cry of pain. "I! AM! NOT! GOING TO BE! YOUR WIFE! _OR_ GIRLFRIEND! _OR_ ANYTHING! Get that through your thick skull!" She roared before stomping away back to her table, ignoring the murmurs echoing around the Hall.

Her mother gave her a sympathetic frown as she sat down, having not been fazed by the sudden act of violence. Such a thing was a fact of life for a Viking, but for Astrid Hofferson, it seemed doubly so, especially when Snotlout was concerned.

Astrid scooped up her food and shoveled it into her mouth furiously. She tried to ignore the satisfied and relieved whispers, those quiet words spoken that suggested people were relieved that she wasn't getting weak. That Hiccup hadn't completely rubbed off on her. That she was still a strong and notable Viking.

She hated it.

Ever since Hiccup had died, violent acts had started to make her sick to her stomach. All she could think about when she punched or fought someone was the look on Hiccup's face when she had punched him in the jaw that fateful evening. That look of betrayal. That look of fear. She hated it.

She hated their praises for her violence. She hated the satisfaction she felt when she broke a someone's nose when they angered her. Why was she so violent? Was she a monster? Was she no better than the devils that raided and burned her village?

She sighed as she laid her head against the table and wondered once again what life would be like if Hiccup had survived.

What would his inventive mind have brought to the village?

What changes would he have made?

* * *

 _Present_

* * *

Astrid heaved dryly as she groaned outside Marge's house. She had her hand planted against the wall and a splattering of puke at her feet… the stew that her stomach had readily rejected as food. She gagged just thinking about the taste.

Odin! That wasn't food! That was poison!

The blonde groaned again as she held her stomach, feeling green in the face. She scowled.

And she thought her cooking was bad…

"Astrid?"

Astrid yelped and quickly turned around with a forced smile as she hastily composed herself.

"I'm fine, Marge!" She swiftly reassured before noticing that it wasn't Marge standing behind her but the familiar auburn-haired, green-eyed man she came here with.

Hiccup gave her a knowing grin, Toothless padding up behind him. He rubbed the back of his neck as he greeted her.

"Hi, Milady."

Astrid breathed a sigh of relief, slumping back against the wall with a groan, replacing her hand on her stomach.

"Oh, Hiccup. Thank the _gods_!" She breathed before grimacing as another bout of nausea swept over her and she whirled around to throw up another helping of Marge's lethal stew.

Hiccup made a face with a laugh as he stepped forward to rub her back as she was bent over.

"I was just flying around when I saw you. Let me guess. You ate some of Marge's stew." He guessed with a smirk.

Astrid moaned as she nodded her head.

"Ohhh… I think that was worse than my Yaknog I made for Snoggletog one year." She complained.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow in question, a confused look on his face.

"Yaknog?"

The blonde nodded meekly as she straightened up with a grimace and waving a hand in dismissal.

"Just… Just some stupid drink I made." She grinned a bit, locking her eyes to his. "Your dad banned me or anyone from making it ever again." She told him with an embarrassed blush.

Hiccup smiled at the thought, amusement in his eyes.

"Seriously? That bad?"

Astrid laughed a bit, leaning against the wall with a grimace.

"That bad. Trust me. Never again." She stated.

The young man shook his head with a chuckle as he looped an arm through hers and helped her stand up.

"I'll take your word for it. Let's get you back inside."

She groaned a bit but allowed him to guide her in the right direction, looking up at him with a hopeful look.

"Could I stay at your place? I feel like if I stay here, I'm going to die from food poisoning."

Hiccup's grin faltered a bit as his face held a defensive but also a guilty look but only for a split second as he covered it with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. You'll have to put up with Marge… just come eat in the hall for breakfast before she gets you to try her 'Morning Bread.'"

Astrid frowned, having caught the odd look before he covered it, but raised her eyebrow.

"'Morning bread'?" She asked warily. Oh gods, was it like the stew? Oh, she hoped not…

Hiccup grinned and whispered in her ear like it was a secret.

"It's some sort of cake recipe she messed up but now she claims she's made a new type of breakfast meal."

Astrid nodded before giving him a slightly hopeful look.

"Is it at least more edible than her stew?"

Hiccup scoffed and gave her a mischievous look.

"Well, let me put it this way. I think rocks are softer." He commented cheekily.

Astrid snorted out with laughter.

She smiled at him, her eyes glimmering. She felt that fluttery feeling in her chest as she let him guide her back into the healer's home.

She already felt better. The only medicine she needed was Hiccup.

She looked at him curiously.

"So, did you find, Eira?" She asked cautiously, knowing how he reacted the last time this subject was brought up.

Hiccup's face flickered with a frown before it laxed with a sigh. He nodded.

"Yeah, I found her." He suddenly stopped her, his grip on her arm tightening slightly as he closed his eyes biting his lip. "Astrid… I… I need to tell you something."

Astrid's eyebrow raised as she gave him her full attention.

"Yeah? What is it?"

Hiccup let go of her as she leaned up against the side of the house next to the front door in the cool night air. He took a breath as he rubbed the back of his neck, a frown on his face.

"I, uh…" He began only to trail off into another awkward silence.

Astrid raised her other eyebrow with a small grin.

"Yes?" She asked leadingly.

The auburn-haired man looked up at her with an uncertain expression. He grinned a bit before it faltered as he sighed heavily with a defeated look.

"Astrid, I have—" He got no further as the front door of Marge's house burst open.

"Astrid! Where'd you go, lass?! Ya shouldn't be wanderin' around the…" Marge trailed off upon spotting the two young adults standing before her.

Astrid greeted the woman with a smile.

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'm not wandering off anywhere. Just talking with Hiccup."

The older woman wiped her hands on a towel she held with a smile, eyes glancing between the two of them.

"Oh, that's fine, but I really need to be dressing those injuries of yours soon. So, make it quick." She stated.

Astrid nodded in understanding before nodding her head to Hiccup.

"I'll be in soon. Hiccup was just going to tell me something." She turned to the wide-eyed man with a questioning look. "So, what was it you were going to tell me?"

Hiccup had his jaw open as if he was about to say something but quickly closed it and shook his head with an awkward grin as he began walking backwards towards Toothless, who was sitting behind him and examining the scene with attentive green eyes.

"Uh, it's fine. It can wait. You just, err… I'll just…" He pointed behind him with his thumbs before clapping his hands together with a light laugh. "Ha, uh. Yeah, I'll just go. Goodnight, Astrid. I'll see you in the morning." He told her with a smile before turning around and walking quickly away out of sight.

Toothless watched his rider go with a cock of his head before glancing at the confused Astrid with a croon and bounding after Hiccup.

Astrid blinked with a frown.

"That was weird."

Marge chuckled lightly from the doorway, getting her attention.

The grey-haired healer gestured after them.

"Aye, he was always on the awkward side, that one. Haven't seen him like that for a while though. Wonder why this time…" She commented before turning to Astrid with a smile, hands on her hips. "Now! Let's get in and take a look at those warrior wounds of yours, eh? See what I can do."

Astrid nodded in a absently, her mind ablaze with questions she didn't have answers to.

 _That was strange. I know Hiccup tends to be awkward sometimes. He was like that back then too, but this was the first time since our reunion that he has been like this. What was it he was going to tell me?_

 _Who is Eira?_

* * *

 **Yes yes, I know. Again with the 'Eira'. Still no straight answer. I've read a couple of theories in the reviews about who she is and will be curious about what you think now.**

 **I've also read a few people wondering what other place besides Outcast Isle Hiccup and Toothless went all Rambo on. Let me hear your theories as well as your speculation about what has happened in Hiccup's life up til this point, because that is still a mystery. There is still somethings you don't know about Hiccup. He obviously is scarred both physically and... perhaps a bit mentally as well, but from what? Leave your thoughts in a review!**

 **So, I've been busy. I got a job recently, so that has occupied a lot of my time. I also have started school again, so there is that too. Perhaps now you may understand why it takes me so long to get new content out for this story as well as my other stories. I try my best, but sometimes life gets crazy and it may take months, as you well know, to get an update out.**

 **Regardless, I hoped you enjoyed, and if you see a story update tomorrow or the day after for this story, it won't mean another chapter. I'm currently fixing some mistakes that I made in the last chapter and will be updating chapter 2 with a revised version, so yeah.**

 **Also, if you find any errors in this chapter that need fixing-grammatical errors, time details that don't seem quite right, etc.- let me know in a review or a PM. Be sure to tell me exactly where.**

 **Anyways, that was it. Chapter 3! Onward into chapter 4!**

 **Until next time...**

 **StoryCrusader signing out.**


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